


Don't Stop Me Now

by Isa_Iadel



Series: A Song for You [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Awesome Darcy Lewis, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Barney Barton is not in the mood for your shit, Bucky Barnes Feels, Clint Barton & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Clint Needs a Hug, Clint really needs a hug, Darcy Lewis's iPod, F/M, Hydra plot, M/M, Phil Coulson lives, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve is sad, Threesome - F/M/M, die hydra die, on the run from Hydra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-09-08 08:22:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 48,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8837437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isa_Iadel/pseuds/Isa_Iadel
Summary: Bucky Barnes has no intention of standing by and letting Hydra hurt Steve Rogers.  His first priority is to secure Darcy Lewis.  His second priority is to burn Hydra to the ground.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for violence (not super graphic), death (not a main character) and sex

[Tumblr Collage!](http://isa-iadel.tumblr.com/post/154416637594/new-story-dont-stop-me-now)

Thanks to the Best Beta's!

[Le_Faey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Le_Faey) and [Kinniska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinniska/pseuds/Kinniska)

**Part One**

As the Winter Soldier stared at the photo, he silently admitted to himself that it was lovely.  He took some time mentally debating about the right word for it and he settled on lovely.  Beautifully, wonderfully, incandescently lovely, and it made him ache.

It was a candid photo, taken inside Avengers’ Tower, by someone they had been comfortable enough with to let close with an unmonitored cell phone.  He didn’t know the identity of the one who’d taken the photo, of whomever had passed it along to Hydra, but they would suffer when he did.  He felt something like jealousy as he stared at it, though he wasn’t entirely sure whom he felt jealous of.  They were both so damn lovely.   

But it was just a dream.  That life, those hopes and wishes, they were long dead.  They were long gone.  But knowing that didn’t stop him from longing for it.  He wanted Steve so much, wanted to hold him, to take him away, to beg for forgiveness.  He wanted to hide from the world in his embrace.  But he didn’t.  He couldn’t.  He’d raised his fists against the person he loved the most in the world, and he could never face him again.  Whatever bit of Bucky Barnes was left inside of him wasn’t going to do anymore to ruin Steve’s life.  He would raze Hydra to the ground and then just fade away, and Steve would move on.

For the briefest of moments he imagined that he had been there too, maybe standing a little behind them.  He would have been smiling as well, happy and amused.  But he knew, in his heart, that there was no place for him in Steve’s life.  There was no place for him in this strange world he’d unwillingly woken up in.  All that was left to do was root out what remained of Hydra and crush them.  Once they were gone for good, Steve would be safe in his new life and Bucky would become no one.

Or so he had intended.

But then the photo had appeared, taken off the phone of a Hydra Operative he’d encountered.  The woman’s name, _Darcy Elizabeth Lewis_ , was not difficult to obtain.  There was information about an extensive surveillance package on her in the phone.  

“Darcy Lewis,” he murmured.

After that he kept tabs on Hydra keeping tabs on her.  And when their surveillance developed into something more — he was ready for them.

 

< > < > < > < >

 

The abrupt sound of the phone ringing startled Darcy Lewis, pulling her attention away from her computer.  There were only a few people that had the direct number to the Asgardian Consulate in New York.  There was a dedicated line with a prerecorded message to give basic information, but it never rang through to her office.  Keeping in mind that only a few people had her direct number, Darcy was already bracing herself when she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“GREETINGS, CONSUL LEWIS!”

Darcy dropped the telephone in surprise, cursing under her breath, but after a moment of wild fumbling managed to get the receiver back to her ear.  “Good morning, Ambassador Baldurson.”

Forseti Baldurson chuckled heartily, but did not lower his voice when he resumed speaking.  Darcy rapidly turned the volume down on her office phone, as it was far more expedient than trying to get Forseti to speak at anything less than a roar.

“How fares the city of New York?  The Biggest of all Apples!”

“All is well.  How’s DC?” Darcy asked.

“I have recently been introduced to the wonder of a crêpe truck!  I have no complaints.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Indeed!” he boomed.  “Nutella is indeed a most addictive substance.  I begin to understand the Prince’s enjoyment of certain Midgardian delicacies.  I received your photograph of the raspberry lemon zest mini muffins you baked on yester eve.  They do indeed look hearty!”

“And super tasty,” Darcy said idly.  “I ate like five of them for breakfast.”

“Of that I have no doubt. Perhaps you will share the recipe with me?”

“I’ll email it to you,” Darcy promised.  “Have you tried the pasta recipe I sent you?”

“Indeed, I have!  It was most marvelous.”

“Awesome,” Darcy replied.

“And how fares the candidate list for the third exchange?”

With the signing of a formal treaty between Earth and Asgard, a series of professional exchanges had been organized.  The first, an exchange of artisans and craftspeople, had been a resounding success.  The second had turned into something of a scientific conference/bar crawl with some of the best scientific minds Earth and Asgard had to offer, but still had also been considered fairly successful.  A video clip of the Asgardian scientist Tadeas and Neil Degrasse Tyson singing a scientific ballad of their own composition was one of the most viewed Youtube videos of all time.  The Earth-Asgardian Treaty had enjoyed a fairly high rate of approval after that little gem hit the Internet.  The third exchange was to be one of warriors and it was proving the most difficult of all.  SHIELD had been less than thrilled to find out they were only permitted to send two of their Agents in a group of thirty people.  They’d completely ignored the applicant criteria and then proceeded to have a hissy fit when Darcy had rejected one of their candidates.

“Eh,” she shrugged to herself.  “Mostly good.  But I rejected one of SHIELD’s candidates and they’re pissed.  They’ve called me in for a wrist slapping tomorrow afternoon.”

“Whomsoever dares to slap your wrist will soon find themselves short a hand!” Forseti declared.

“Not actual wrist slapping,” Darcy amended.  Her attention briefly lingered on the framed photo of her boyfriend on her desk and she smiled a little.  “They’re just gonna lecture me and try to make me change my mind.”

“The first two exchanges were a rousing success because of your diligence,” Forseti bellowed encouragingly.  “As the head of the Asgardian Consulate in New York City, you and you alone are in charge of issuing the visas for participants.  If SHIELD wishes to make a complaint about your performance, they are welcome to go fuck a Bilgesnipe.”

Darcy bit her lower lip to hold in a laugh, “Should I relay that suggestion to them, Ambassador?”

“It would please me if you would use those words exactly, Consul Lewis.  And whomsoever harasses you may bring their choice of weapon and meet me on the battlefield!”

“I’ll just let them know that then,” Darcy snorted.

“I have no doubt that you will continue to perform your duties admirably.  I would know the name of this inferior candidate SHIELD has put forward.”

“His name is Ward.  He’s a Level Seven.  Great scores, great evals.”

“But?”

“Too much of what he’s been doing for the last year is redacted.  I mean a certain amount of redaction is normal, but something feels off about it.  And by all accounts he’s a standoffish, unsociable asshole.  He would not do well on Asgard.”

“You must remain fortified against the influence of those with self serving motivations!”

“Fortify.  Got it,” Darcy promised easily.

“We will speak again soon!” he proclaimed, before hanging up.  

Darcy put the phone back on the receiver and took only a moment to think, before standing.  “Jarvis?”

“Yes, Consul Lewis?”

She rolled her eyes a little because it was still a little strange to hear, “Is Clint in the building?”

“He’s on the communal floor.  Would you like me to ask him to meet you?”

“Nah, I’ll go to him,” she replied.  “Can you let him know I’m coming?”

“I will inform him,” Jarvis promised.

Darcy grabbed her cell phone and a Tupperware container before pulling her office door shut behind her.  Avengers Tower had given her an entire floor for the Consulate, but so far she was the only one to occupy it full time.  At one point she’d wanted to hire a personal assistant, but she’d been unable to find someone who fit.  

While in the elevator, she fired off a quick text to her boyfriend before exiting on the Avengers communal floor.  It was basically a huge living room/rec room, kitchen and dining room for the team to meet and a giant exercise in Tony Stark’s need to show affection by throwing expensive things at people.  As if that wasn’t enough, the Avengers each had private apartments in the tower, as well as customized training rooms.

“Clint?”  Darcy headed towards the living room, looking around for him.  She put her phone back in her pocket and tucked the Tupperware under her arm.

There was no sign of Clint and there was a strange sort of tension in the air that automatically put on her guard.  She turned, darting right just as Clint was reaching for her from behind.  She vaulted over the couch and grabbing the remote, lobbed it at his head.  He caught it, but smiled.

“Not bad.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, but returned his smile, “I didn’t realize that the Clint Barton School for How To Kick People in the Face extended beyond our morning training sessions.”

“Excuse you,” he replied, “It’s the Clint Barton School for How to Kick People in the Face and Look Good Doing It.”

She’d teased him about it, but Clint took his role as head of Avengers Adjacent Security Services extremely seriously.  It was something that he and Happy Hogan had cooked up after realizing how difficult it was for people associated with the Avengers to do things like go grocery shopping without being mobbed.  Clint was her security buddy.  He’d tried to get her to just move into the Tower, but when she refused he helped her pick a place in a secure building and made her report for daily training with him and occasionally the Black Widow.

Steve Rogers had been her original security buddy, but their first meeting had been more a coffee date than consultation and Clint had not been amused.  He’d taken Darcy for himself, giving Steve his brother.  He’d sent Steve off to Connecticut to coordinate security for Barney Barton, never telling him that his older brother was the Special Agent In Charge at the New Haven field office for the FBI.  Barney Barton had not been amused, cursing out Steve and then calling Clint to curse him out as well.  Clint, of course, had found the entire thing hilarious.  

Darcy and Clint had been friends since New Mexico and he tended to make their trainings more like games.  She wasn’t super thrilled about the early morning starts, but it was worth it.

“Are you sure you want to be messing with me when I have something for you?” she asked, grinning, as she lifted the Tupperware and waved it in his direction.

His eyes brightened, “You baked?”

Darcy nodded and Clint vaulted over the couch.  She rolled her eyes when he snatched the Tupperware from her.  He made a happy sound when he opened it to discover muffins.  He grabbed one and shoved it into his mouth, belatedly peeling the paper off.

“I told you there would be a test,” he mumbled, muffin crumbs flying everywhere, “And a present if you did well.”

“Did I pass then?” she asked, amused, as he shoved the remains of the muffin in his mouth.

He nodded.

“So what’s my present?” she demanded.

He removed an envelope from his back pocket and handed it over.  Darcy peered into the envelope and let out a shriek of pure joy.  She jumped on him and he caught her with the hand that wasn’t holding the muffins, laughing a little.

“I take it you like it?”

She glanced down at the pair of tickets for Hamilton, “How did you even get this?!”

“I know people.”

Darcy grinned, “This is perfect!  Jane will be back from Asgard in time.”

He tilted his head a little, “You don’t want to go with your boyfriend?”

“Oh.  Well, we’re still trying to keep a low profile,” she replied.

Clint nodded, but the movement was unhappy.

“Which you advised,” she reminded him.  “In fact it was the very first thing you said to me after I went out with Steve.”

“I remember,” he admitted.  “But if this is going to be a permanent thing, and it seems like maybe it is, you might want to think about how to go public.”  He was quiet for a moment, “What did you want to see me about?”

“Oh.  Third group list.”

“Don’t tell me that SHIELD put me forward as a candidate?” he asked in surprise.

“No, I wish,” she said, “You, I could approve.”

“Who did they suggest?”

“Kara Palamas.”

Clint nodded, “Kara is cool.  I’m guessing she’s not the problem.  Who else?”

“Grant Ward.”

“Ah…I’m familiar with him.”

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed.  “I told them to pick someone else and they are not super happy about it.  I have a meeting tomorrow with John Garrett and whoever else feels like showing up and trying to intimidate me into accepting Ward.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not accepting Ward.  But I wanted to know if you have any idea why they might be pushing this?  I mean he’s high level, but he seems like a jackass.”

“There aren’t a lot of high-ranking SHIELD Agents left,” Clint said after a moment.  “Nat and I just liaise these days.  We lost some to Hydra,” he scowled, “Some turned out to actually be Hydra.  I don’t know.  Garrett trained Ward.  Could be an ego thing.”

“I suggested Sharon Carter, Antoine Triplett or Melinda May.”

“All good choices,” Clint agreed.  “Want me to come to your meeting?”

“Do you know John Garrett?”

Clint nodded, “He’s one of those guys that, given an inch will take a mile.  I don’t like the idea of him giving you a hard time.”

“Clint, I’m young.  I’m a woman.  I’m short.  I’m used to dealing with people thinking I can’t manage my shit.”

“Yeah, well,” Clint said quietly, “I’m happy to go with you.  Kevin can have a day off and I can be your bodyguard.”

She considered it briefly, but shook her head, “Nah.  I can handle it.  I tasered the God of Thunder, so you know, NBD.  Takes a lot to intimidate me.  Garrett doesn’t intimidate me.  I just don’t get what his deal is.”

“Have you spoken to Ambassador Baldurson?”

Darcy let out a laughing snort, “Oh my god, yeah.  Best part of it.  He told me to tell them to, and I quote, go fuck a Bilgesnipe and basically threatened to duel anyone who annoyed me.”

“What the hell is a Bilgesnipe?” Clint demanded.  

“I have no idea,” she admitted, still laughing.  “I’ve gotta get back to it,” she gestured in the vague direction of the elevator.  “See you tomorrow morning?”

“Darcy,” he said quickly as she turned away, “Seriously.  When you first started dating Steven a lot of us… me especially… were really nervous that it was going to put you at risk.  I know that I came on pretty strong about keeping it a secret.”

“Clint, Steve and I both agreed with you.  But maybe going to see Hamilton,” she smiled, waving the envelope happily.  “Could be a nice first public date.  I’ll ask him what he thinks.  But honestly, neither of us are bothered by keeping it a secret.  I’m fine.  I promise.”

“Yeah,” he said uneasily, “I always said I wasn’t bothered by it too. Before Phil…” his voice caught and Darcy stared, because Clint never, ever spoke about Phil Coulson.  He could barely stand to hear the other man’s name spoken and he never talked about it.

“Clint,” Darcy said gently.

He surged forward, “You guys are young and you should be able to go out and have fun- normal shit- and I feel bad that I scared you into never doing that.  And granted the threat level isn’t exactly situation normal what with no one knowing where the Soldier went-”

“What?” Darcy demanded.  “What Soldier?”

Clint went so still for a moment that for a moment Darcy wasn’t even sure if he was still breathing, “What?  Nothing?  No Soldier.”

“Clint,” she crossed her arms.

“I think I hear Natasha calling me?”

“Clint!  What Soldier?”

Clint cursed under his breath, “Fuck, I thought you knew.  Okay.  How much do you know about what happened in DC?”

“As much as anyone else who isn’t you know, you guys,” she gestured at him.  “I was in Asgard when it happened and Steve really doesn’t like to talk about it.  I know that Hydra tried to take over SHIELD.  They sent an assassin to kill Fury, but he survived.  Nat, Sam and Steve managed to stop them from launching the helicarriers in time.  I know there are some clips on Youtube of a fight between Nat, Sam and Steve and some Hydra guys on a bridge, but I haven’t watched them”

“Right.”

“Obviously, I don’t know all the classified details,” she said, giving him a pointed stare.  “And I didn’t want to make Steve talk about it if he didn’t want to.”

“Right,” he repeated.

“I might not be an Agent of SHIELD, but I’m not blind and I’m not so unobservant that I don’t know something is still wrong.  I mean Steve keeps going to DC and wherever else.  But I assumed it was just to flush any remaining Hydra Agents out of SHIELD.  I mean he’s been off since DC, but I just assumed that it was because of his past with Hydra.  Is there more to it?”

“….No?”

“Clint,” Darcy scowled.  “How are you even a spy?  You have the worst poker face I’ve ever seen.  What Soldier?”

Clint shifted uneasily, “The man who tried to kill Fury, and later tried to kill Steve and Sam when they went to stop the launch.  He’s called the Winter Soldier.”

“And?”

“And he’s still out there,” Clint said.  “He’s extremely dangerous.  Steve barely made it out alive.”

“And Steve is trying to find him?” Darcy demanded.

Clint nodded.

“Because the Winter Soldier still wants to kill him?” she whispered.  “And next time he finds Steve, he might succeed?”

“Darcy, I-”

Darcy bolted, ignoring Clint’s calls for her to come back.  She wanted nothing more than to close the Consulate up early, go home and eat a pint of ice cream in an angry sulk about how her boyfriend hadn’t told her there was a murderous assassin targeting him.  Instead she spent the afternoon reviewing the third group candidate’s submissions for diplomatic presents to their Asgardian counterparts.  She ended up on the phone with a Navy SEAL Lt. Commander in Hawaii for a truly hilarious conversation about why he couldn’t bring a crate of grenades as his gift for his counterpart.  In the end, she was able to distract him by telling him that there was no Asgardian equivalent to the pineapple and that introducing their allies to the fruit would probably make him more friends than he could handle.

“But it’s like a grenade fruit basket,” he said hopefully.  “I’ve obtained a wide variety.  Fragmentation, concussion… I even got my hands on a couple of anti-tank grenades.”

“My god,” Darcy commented.  “Anti-tank grenades??”

“RKG-3,” he s

“I have no idea what that means, but I’m sure it's terrifying.  How about pineapples?”

“Pineapples?”

“Asgardians love trying new foods,” she promised.  “One hundred percent, you’ll be the most popular guy there.”

“Pineapples?”

“No grenades, Commander,” she said gently, but still firmly.  “Pineapples.  A case of pineapples.”

“Did you know that pineapples is old slang for grenades?  So when you say I should bring a case of pineapples… you really mean grenades, right?”

“No!” she objected laughingly, “I do not.  I mean the fruit!  Bring fruit.”

“But grenades…” he said mournfully.  

“Pineapples,” she confirmed.

He let out a soft but still vaguely morose sounding sigh.  “Pineapples,” he agreed.  

“Asgardians love trying new foods, Commander McGarrett,” she assured him, “One hundred percent, you’ll be the most popular guy there.”

By the time the day ended her anger had melted into gut wrenching, almost nauseating worry.  Leaving the office, she was on her fifth version of an attempt to text her boyfriend, when she bumped into him in the elevator.  Steve Rogers stared at her silently, his eyes a little wide.

“I talked to Clint.  He told me he said some things to you that he shouldn’t have.”

Darcy stepped into the elevator and avoided his gaze, “Don’t go blaming Clint,” she crossed her arms, half hugging herself, “He assumed that I knew.  I don’t think it was an unreasonable assumption.”

“I should have told you,” Steve admitted stiffly, “There is a lot I should have told you.  I’ve…. I’ve really fucked this up, Darcy.”

“Yeah, you should have told me there was some assassin trying to kill you.”

“I wish it was that simple,” he whispered.  “I can’t… I can’t,” he took a deep breath.  “I don’t know how to tell you about this.”

“I know that there are some things you can’t tell me.  Or maybe some things that are hard for you to talk about.  I get that,” she said gently.  “But I just-  You’ve been so off lately and I just-“

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

Darcy turned and glanced at him, her eyes moving over his uniform, the shield and the duffle at his feet.  “Are you going to DC?”

He nodded.

“To look for the Winter Soldier?”

Steve closed his eyes tightly, but nodded.

Darcy pressed a hand against his arm, “Please, be safe.  Okay?”

He nodded again, but his entire body was tense and there was so much unhappiness on his face.

“Steve?” she prompted gently.

He turned to face her, looking at her for the first time since she’d entered the elevator.  He closed the distance between them, cupped her cheeks and tilted her face up for a slow kiss.

“I’ll tell you everything when I get back.  I should have told you from the minute I realized who he was.”  Steve wrapped himself around her.  “We’ll talk when I get back?”

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed.

“I love you.”

Darcy’s hands went to his elbows and she leaned back enough to look up at his face.  The words lingered between them briefly, bright and sincere, and a wide smile spread over his face.  The hint of worry that had been in his face as he spoke evaporated at her look.

“I love you too.”

His mouth brushed across hers and he peppered kisses across her throat and face before taking her hands and kissing her knuckles as well, all the while murmuring ‘I love you.’  

“When I get back,” he promised.

Darcy nodded.  He smiled at her, warm and soft, and she returned the expression.  Steve moved to step off the elevator, but Darcy shot forward and caught him by the wrist, “Wait!”

He turned back to face her.

“Would you like to go see a show with me?  It’s about the Founding Fathers.”

“Hamilton?” Steve asked.  “I read a review of it in the paper.”

Darcy grinned a little, but nodded, “I have two tickets.  And maybe…”

He tilted his head a little, “You want to go out with me?  In public?”

She nodded hopefully.

“I’d like that,” he said after a minute.  “I’d like that a lot.”

Giddy, she nodded happily, “Okay.  Okay, great!  I’ll see you when you get back.”

He pressed another kiss against her mouth, quick and pleased, “We’ll make a night out of it.  Dinner.  A show.  The works.”  He lingered for a moment, just smiling, before he waved at her and stepped out of the elevator.  

Darcy let out a quiet, happy sigh as the elevator doors closed behind him.

“Consul Lewis?”

She startled, “Yeah, Jarvis?”

“Do you wish to disembark?”

“Oh, right!”

Darcy walked out into the lobby and signed out.  She headed down to the garage and waved when she saw her security escort waiting for her.  He technically was part of Stark Industries Security Services, but part of their number had been rerouted to Avengers Adjacent Security.  Their responsibilities mostly consisted of protecting herself, Jane Foster, Eric Selvig, Pepper Potts, Helen Cho, an unwilling and unamused Barney Barton and the Wilson family.  Darcy hadn’t originally been thrilled to have an escort to and from work, but arguing with Clint about security measures never got her anywhere.  And after refusing to work with the first two men assigned to her, Darcy actually got along fairly well with the third one.

“Hey, Kevin,” she called, climbing into the backseat of the SUV.

“Hey,” he returned the greeting.  “How’s your day, Consul Lewis?”

“You know you really can call me Darcy,” she said.  “But it was fine.  How about you?”

“Good,” he said, pulling out of the garage.  “Any change to tomorrow’s agenda?”

“You saw I have a meeting at SHIELD after lunch?”

“Yeah,” he replied.  “I also saw you have a lunch meeting with Ms. Potts, but there wasn’t a location specified.”

“I think we’re just going to have something delivered to her office, but if we decide to go out I’ll make sure you have enough notice.”

“Thanks,” he replied.  Their conversation drifted off as he drove and Darcy stared out the window.  Her mind lingered on Steve and for a moment the worry began to take over.  But she forced herself to try to think about it rationally instead of emotionally.  Steve could take care of himself.  He knew what he was doing.

And he was, apparently, in love with her.

The thought made her smile to herself.  They’d been together for a while, easy and comfortable and though she’d been aware of her own feelings from their first date, he was a little harder to read.  He was always been kind and affectionate, but she could never tell if there was more to it for him.

Once they reached her apartment Kevin walked her in, waving briefly to the doorman and flashing his identification despite that they saw each other twice a day, everyday.  He rode the elevator with her and did a quick check of her apartment before standing outside to listen to her lock the door behind him.  He bid her goodnight through the closed door and Darcy set about finding something to eat for dinner.

Her phone beeped and she glanced down at it.

Steve: Going dark.

She tapped out a quick reply.

Darcy: Stay safe.

Steve: <3

She grinned.

Darcy met Kevin in the lobby of her apartment building the next morning.  She went to her usual morning training class with Clint, who still seemed a little on the subdued side.  She spent the entire day torn between trying not to be worried about Steve and being annoyed with SHIELD.  She spent her mid-morning break with Jane, helping her haul a series of boxes and suitcases up onto the roof.  She hadn’t been Jane’s assistant for more than a year, but she still considered wrangling Jane an important part of her regularly scheduled duties.  She had a new assistant, of course, but Darcy was a little territorial and preferred to check in on Jane herself to ensure that her friend was sleeping and eating with some sort of regularity.

There was a permanently burned sigil on the roof and Darcy helped Jane settle the supplies within the confines of where the Bifrost would open for transport.

Darcy put a box of Sour Patch Kids on top, “Those are for Heimdall.”

Jane tilted her head a little, “Are you okay?”

Darcy wanted to insist that she was, but instead she blurted out, “Steve told me he loves me.”

Jane’s expression softened, “Really?”

Darcy nodded.  “He went to DC, but we’re gonna go on a date when he comes back.”

Jane smiled, “That’s fantastic, Darcy.”

“Apparently there is an assassin trying to kill him.  Leftover from the whole Hydra SHIELD DC clusterfuck.”

“That is decidedly less fantastic,” Jane replied.

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed quietly.  “But I know Steve can take care of himself.”

Jane nodded in agreement, “Yeah.  Just like I know that Thor can take care of himself.  Doesn’t stop me from worrying.”

Darcy nodded.

“Do you want me to stay?  I can postpone my trip?” Jane offered.

“No way,” Darcy objected.  “You haven’t seen Thor in a couple of weeks.  Go to Asgard, say hi to everyone for me.  I have a lot to do here.  This third exchange is keeping me really busy.”

“You sure?  Because I can stay.  It’s really not an idle offer.”

“I know,” Darcy replied.  “And I appreciate it.  But I’m fine.  I promise.”

“Okay,” Jane centered herself in the sigil.  “Call me if you need me?”

“I will,” Darcy promised.

Jane tilted her face upwards, “I’m ready, Heimdall!”

The Bifrost opened in a swirl of rainbow colors and Jane, and all her gear and supplies, disappeared.  The sigils on the roof glowed red briefly, smoking, before cooling and returning to their normal scorched mark black color.  Darcy checked her watch on the way back inside and instead of returning to her office, went directly to see Pepper Potts.

“Hey, Darcy.”

“Hey.  I’m a little early…”

“No, it’s perfect,” Pepper waved her in, “I’m actually ahead of schedule for once.  In the mood for Thai?”

Darcy nodded.

“Great.  Usual order?”

“Yep.”

Pepper spent a moment on the phone with her assistant before moving to join Darcy at the table, “Jane get off okay?”

“Yep.”

“Good.  How’s the third exchange coming along?”

Darcy groaned, prompting a small laugh from Pepper, “SHIELD is just being SHIELD.”

“But otherwise?”

“It’s looking good,” Darcy said.  “It’s more complicated than the other two, but I think it’s going to go well.  The Asgardians’ candidates are actually a really interesting group.”  They chatted idly about that for a bit, but once the food arrived Pepper shifted the conversation a little.

“I wanted to talk to you about the first exchange.”

“Yeah?”

“I understand that there was some collaborative art produced during it?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah, a couple of pieces,” Darcy said.

“Are any of them on Earth?”

Darcy nodded, “Yes.”

“With the artists or…?”

“Well there is a piece in the Embassy in DC.  It was given as a gift to Ambassador Baldurson.  I have two pieces in the Consulate.  One is a painting and the other is a small sculpture.  Why do you ask?”

“Because there has been a lot of public interest in the exchanges.  I recently lost out on obtaining a piece that was slated to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for the Maria Stark Foundation.  I think the possibility of a piece from the exchange would draw a lot of interest.”

“I think that’s a nice idea,” she said.  “I’d be happy to donate it to the Maria Stark Foundation to be auctioned.”

Pepper smiled, “Thank you.  Of course you’re invited to the gala, but I’d also like to invite Ambassador Baldurson and the artists involved.”

“I can supply you with that information,” Darcy said.  “And I can guarantee you that the Ambassador would be overjoyed to attend, his schedule permitting.”  

Pepper grinned, “Great.”

Darcy returned the smile, “I should get back to it.  Thanks for lunch.”

“Just one more thing, Darcy,” Pepper said as they stood, “I noticed that you still haven’t hired an assistant or any staff for the Consulate.”

“Yeah.  I know I need an assistant.  The sheer amount of backlogged emails I have to deal with is really getting out of hand.  But I just haven’t been able to find anyone who fits.”

“Can I help?” Pepper offered.  “I’d be happy to reroute some of my administrative staff to assist you until you find someone?”

“I might take you up on that,” she said after a moment.  “But I’ve got to run.  I have a meeting with SHIELD.”

“We’ll talk more later,” Pepper promised.

“Lunch against next week?” Darcy suggested.

“Perfect.”

Kevin drove her to SHIELD and escorted her into the building.  But in the usual style of pointless obstructionism, he wasn’t allowed in any further than the lobby.  Darcy rolled her eyes at the posturing, but allowed herself to be escorted into a meeting room without him.  John Garrett was already waiting for her.  He introduced the Agents on either side of him, but Darcy had already decided to play the part of the incompetent girl child he seemed to think she was and therefore she didn’t pay much attention.

His lecture went on and on.  Blah blah blah.  Evaluations.  Records.  Scores.  Blah blah blah.  Darcy made it a point to yawn one than once.  Mostly she wanted to see how long he would keep lecturing her until her disinterest broke his concentration.  Or patience.  

“Ms. Lewis, are you taking this seriously?” he demanded after several minutes.

“To be honest,” she said, fishing around in her purse for a breath mint and not really bothering to look at him as she spoke, “Not really?”

His face reddened, “May I ask why not?”

“Because nothing you say is going to change my mind.  Ah ha!”  She located her tin of mints and popped one into her mouth.  “Mint?” she offered sweetly.

“Perhaps I’d be better served speaking directly to the Ambassador.”

“Asgardians can be picky about protocol and technically SHIELD is supposed to liaise through the New York office.  I mean you’re welcome to try, but when I briefed him on the matter his suggestion was that you go fuck a Bilgesnipe, so I don’t think you’re going to get a different answer from him.  He considers the exchange my responsibility and is too busy testing out the various food trucks in DC and taking selfies with school children to interfere when I’ve got it fully under control.”

Agent Garrett stared at her, mouth tight with anger.  “This is outrageous.”

“Yeah, I agree,” she said, leaning forward.  “I’m the Asgardian Consulate to the City of New York and I do not answer to you, Agent Garrett.  I do not answer to SHIELD.  The only reason I agreed to the meeting is so that we can agree on a different candidate.  I’ve given you three people I think fit the application criteria, but of course you’re welcome to pick another candidate.  Just so long as it isn’t Grant Ward.”

“Agent Ward-”

Darcy yawned again.

Agent Garrett’s eyes were so large it seemed like they were going to pop out of his face, “Agent Ward-”

“There is a specific applicant criteria,” Darcy said.  “And you’ve chosen to ignore it.”

“Agent Ward is a uniquely talented and qualified individual.  There’s no reason an exception can’t be made.  Considering the special relationship between SHIELD and the Avengers, there is no reason not to be accommodating.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Darcy asked.  “I don’t answer to either of those entities.  I represent the All Father and the Asgardian government.  Look, Agent Garrett, it’s not happening.  I absolutely will not issue a visa to Agent Ward.  Pick another candidate or Agent Palamas can go alone.”

“You’re making a mistake,” he said tightly.

“Would you prefer to meet again at a later date after you’ve had a chance to consider alternative candidates?” Darcy asked.

The meeting completely fell apart after that and though she left without having reached a solution, she was still pretty pleased with herself.  She was almost giddy about it.  She spent the entire drive back to Avenger’s Tower complaining to an amused Kevin about SHIELD and laughing about the expression on Agent Garrett’s face.  Once back in her office she sent Ambassador Baldurson an update about her meeting with SHIELD and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to tackle the backlog of appearance requests she had.  Most of them were for Thor himself, but there was an occasional request for someone from the Consulate to give a presentation about Asgardian history or culture or make an appearance somewhere, or something along those lines.  Long term she wanted to have an actual Asgardian in the Consulate to handle those requests, but for now she did what she could on her own.  No matter what Thor said, she wasn’t entirely comfortable representing Asgard to that degree.

The day ended with Kevin driving her home.  He entered her apartment first for his cursory check.  Darcy wasn’t paying attention until he was shoving her back with one hand, the other hand going for his gun.  She just barely looked up and caught sight of the armed, masked men in her living room before there was a soft whoosh.

A dot of red appeared in the center of Kevin’s forehead.  He was still for a single moment, eyes still open as the blood trickled down his forehead, before he dropped.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In text links lead to the song on youtube.

**Part Two**

 

There was a voice in her head, Clint’s voice actually, and it was telling her what to do.

 

_ Don’t stand still.  Standing still gets you killed.  Don’t hesitate.  Don’t be afraid.  Be afraid later.  Freaking out is your reward for living. _

 

_ Be afraid later. _

The man closest to her reached for her, coming at her from the side, but Darcy pivoted and drove her elbow back into his face and in the general direction of his nose.

_ Get his gun. _

She got his gun from him when he reared back with a cry of pain and surprise.  The next nearest to her moved and Darcy raised the gun and shot him in the thigh.  The rest of them were careful after that, wary, but still moving closer.  She turned to the next nearest, but someone pressed against her from behind and hands closed over hers.  A thumb dug into soft skin between her thumb and forefinger and she released the gun with a small cry of pain.  The man behind her wrapped his other arm around her, swiveling around and presenting his back as several of the men opened fire.  He flinched badly with each shot, but kept himself fully wrapped around her.  Long dark hair and a mask covered most of his face as they turned. He manhandled her down the hallway and shoved her in the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind him and leaving Darcy alone in the bathroom.  

Darcy was still for a moment before she dropped to her knees before the bathroom sink.  She yanked out a can of bath salts and ripped off the lid to retrieve a gun and a cell phone.  She turned the phone on and kept low to the ground, cringing at the sounds of bullets and fighting from elsewhere in her apartment.

Clint answered after barely one ring, “Status?”

“Clint,” her voice came out as a rasp.  She was so scared she could barely speak.  “Clint, there are men in my apartment.  Kevin’s dead.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in the bathroom,” she whispered.  “There’s another man and he…”

She suddenly realized that her apartment had gotten very quiet.  The door to the bathroom was kicked in and she screamed in surprise and fear, scrambling backwards until her back hit the wall.  The man strode forward, plucking her off the ground with one hand and snatching her cell phone with the other.

“Oh god.”

“Darcy?!” Clint’s voice shouted from the phone

“No, don’t-” Darcy began, but the man tossed the cellphone into the nearby toilet.

The hands that held her up right gentled, but he still didn’t release her.  Darcy stared at him for a long moment before managing to find her voice.  He just stared at her, unblinkingly.  

“Are you hurt?”

He shook his head.

“But you were shot.”

He tapped his vest and Darcy realized it was bullet proof.  He took the gun from her gently and while keeping an arm around her shoulders, tugged her out of the bathroom.  He shifted her, trying to keep himself between her and the bodies on the ground, but he wasn’t able to completely obscure her view.  She slowed as they approached Kevin’s body and he simply lifted her, carrying her out of the apartment and towards the stairs.

“Wait!” she began.

He kicked the door open and took the stairs at a brisk jog, still carrying her.  She allowed it because she suddenly realized that she was trembling badly.  He set her down when they reached the ground for, holding on to her shoulders for a moment to check her stability.  It gave her a moment to take a deep breath and stare at him.

“Who are you?”

He didn’t answer her, but he kept her behind him as they stepped out of the stairwell.  He led her towards the exit to the back alley, pausing only once they reached the door.

“Stay behind me,” he murmured, voice nearly inaudible.  

Darcy nodded.

He held her gaze, “Stay behind me, but stay with me.  Promise me.”

“I don’t-”

“Promise!” he insisted.

She swallowed, overwhelmed, but managed a nod.

“Keep hold of me,” he said.

Darcy wrapped her fingers around one of the many straps around his chest and kept pace with him as they moved into an empty alleyway.  They came up to dumpster and he maneuvered her against the side of it, wedged between it and the wall.  He dropped to one knee and Darcy followed, crouching behind him.  He turned and pressed a finger against her lips and motioned for her to stay.  He waited only for her to nod before moving away.

The sounds of a fight reached her a moment later and she tensed as footsteps approached her.  She saw the boots and knew it wasn’t him just as another man appeared.  She let the man drag her upright and as he went to pull her close to him, she grabbed him by the shoulder with her free hand and kneed him in the groin.

“Bitch!” he spat.

Darcy brought her hands up to shield her face, but the force of his blow sent her sideways and she knocked against the dumpster and landed on her knees.  He grabbed her by the hair, but Darcy shifted her weight to one side and managed to get both of her feet against the dumpster and prevent him from slamming her head against it.

His hand loosened abruptly.  There was a choked off scream and suddenly the masked man was pulling her to her feet and though he tried to turn her face away, she still caught sight of her attacker with his throat cut.  He pulled her away from the body, releasing her only when she was leaning against the opposite wall.  They stood there for a moment, quiet except for Darcy’s attempt to catch her breath.  He was still, staring again, but after a moment he offered her his hand.

And she took it.

He tugged her in the direct of a nondescript white van, moving her around several more dead bodies.  He all but lifted her up and into the passenger seat before moving to the driver’s side.  He started the van and Darcy caught sight of a spray of blood against the dashboard.

“Wait, just wait-” she managed.  She pushed the door open and leaned out of the car to vomit.  Her stomach rebelled and she continued to vomit.  She felt a hand on her shoulder, but he did nothing until she finished being sick.  He leaned over her to buckle her seatbelt for her before turning his attention to driving.

They’d only been driving for a few minutes when he tensed abruptly and Darcy felt her stomach drop.  He met her gaze briefly and pointed at the wheel.

“Can I drive?” Darcy hesitantly extrapolated.  “Well, yeah, but-”

He undid her seatbelt and then his own and moved to the back of the van.

“Holy shit!” Darcy shouted.  She threw herself from the passenger seat and into the driver's seat.  “Jesus Christ,” she exhaled when her hands were on the wheel.  “Holy shit.”  She glanced over her shoulder quickly to see that the man was taking stock of a large pile of guns.  “Um…”

He chosen several of them and got them organized by the back door.  There was hole in the door and he knelt by it, slotting the barrel of the gun through it..  She caught sight of several dark SUV’s in the rear view mirror just before the shooting started.  She had no idea what to do, so she mostly tried to keep the van going at a consistent pace and in a fairly straight line, afraid any sharp turns would compromise his balance.

He sent the cars veering off, tires and windshields destroyed before moving back to join her in the front.  Darcy glanced at him worriedly, but he seemed unfazed and unharmed.

“Um.  Good shooting?”

He gave her thumbs up before making a motion with his hand that she took to mean he wanted to resume driving.  She half stood and they managed to switch, his body sliding under hers and into the driver's seat.  One of his hands held onto her briefly as he balanced her on his leg.  Once she was in the passenger seat, he reached over, abandoning the wheel briefly, and buckled her seat belt.

They drove in silence for a long time.  Darcy tried to subtly observe him, but every time she so much as tried to look at him out of the corner of her eye, he met her gaze.  Once they were out of the city he headed north, pulling into the first rest stop once they reached Connecticut.  He parked the van and moved towards a green Subaru.  He removed the keys from his pocket and unlocked the car.  Darcy started to move towards the rest stop, but stilled when he didn’t follow.

Darcy took a couple of steps towards him and offered him her hand.  He shook his head and tapped his mask.

“Oh.”  Darcy moved back towards the car, but he touched her elbow when she moved to open the passenger side door.  He jerked his head in the direction of the rest stop.  She shook her head and looked down at her feet, unable to admit that she was afraid to go into the building without him.  She had absolutely no idea who he was or why he was helping her, but she was afraid to let him out of her sight.

He nudged her gently, but she refused to meet his gaze.  After a moment he moved away, opening the trunk.  When Darcy looked up he was removing the most obvious of his weapons and his vest.  He bowed his head, his hair shifting forward to fully obscure his face as he removed his mask.

His head turned away from her, he moved back to her side and offered his hand.  Darcy took his hand, doing her best not to squeeze it too tightly.  She also did her best to not stare directly at him, though it was tempting.  He had to give her a little push once they reached the bathroom, but Darcy let go of his hand and went into the restroom.  She used the bathroom quickly and washed her hands in the sink and it was only then that she realized she was still shaking.  Whatever adrenaline had carried her through the attack in New York had ebbed and she wanted nothing more than to hide under a pile of blankets and ignore the rest of the world.  

He was waiting for her when she left the restroom; a small bag with some drinks and chips in one hand.  She took his free hand before he could offer it.  Once they were outside he shifted and when he put one of his arms around her, Darcy realized her entire body was visibly shaking.

He yanked opened the passenger side door to the Subaru and leaned in briefly to toss the bag into the backseat before putting her in the car.  She sat there and thought about turning, lifting her legs and getting herself fully in the vehicle, but she couldn’t move.

“Hey,” he said softly.  He went down to his knees when she didn’t respond.  A soft, pained sound escaped him and when Darcy looked up she realized he was staring at her scraped knees.  “You’re hurt,” he said throatily.

She shook her head.  His gaze lifted and they stared directly at each other.  His shoulders tensed and it seemed like he would shy away, but Darcy’s arm shot out and caught his shoulder.  

“Thank you.”

“You got hurt,” he whispered.

“Yeah, but I didn’t get dead.  And that’s because of you.”

“I don’t think they were going to kill you.”

“Really?”  Darcy’s eyes narrowed, “Wait.  You have a key to this car.  You had this car here.  You put it here.  You were expecting something… you knew this was going to happen and you had an escape plan.”

He shrugged.

“Do we know each other?”

He shook his head.

“Please tell me who you are,” she murmured.  “Or at least why you’re doing this.”

“They don’t get to have you.  They don’t get to take you and use you against him,” he said tightly.

“They?”  She hesitated briefly, “Were they Hydra?”

“They were.”

“But you aren’t?”  She continued when he didn’t reply, “Him?  Did you mean Steve?”

He recoiled, but Darcy leaned forward and took hold of both of his shoulders, nearly falling out of the car.  He steadied her, stilling, and made no move to push her hands off his shoulders.  “Yeah,” he croaked.  “I meant Steve.”  

She was quiet for a moment, her gaze drifting beyond him.  “A payphone!”

“What?” he turned, following her gaze.

“A payphone.  I want to make a phone call.  That’s lucky!  There’s barely any left these days.”

His hands clamped down on top of hers, “No.  You can’t.”

“But I have to let my friends know I’m okay.  I need to tell them where I am.”

He shook his head, “No.”

“But-”

He reached into his pocket and removed a phone.  He unlocked it and opened the photo gallery, handing over the phone to show her the only photo it contained.

“This is a photo of me and Steve,” she said dumbly.  “This… this is a photo of us from inside the Tower.”

He nodded.  “This is how they knew about you.”

“This photo?”

He nodded again, “I got it from one of their operatives.”

“But… but how?”

“I killed him and discovered it when I went through his things.”  He looked away from her briefly as he spoke.

Darcy stared at him, “I meant how did he get it.”

“Oh.  Well, the question isn’t how,” he murmured gently.  “The question is who.  And until we know for certain, you have to hide.  Can you tell when this was taken?”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she inhaled slowly and tried to keep her cool, “Yes.  I remember that day.  That was Clint’s birthday.  We had a party.”

“Can you tell from the angle of the photo who took it?”

“No,” she whispered.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know.  I didn’t even realize any photos had been taken.”

“Do you remember who was at the party?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay,” he said.  “We’ll make a list once we stop for the night.”

She nodded again, suddenly so exhausted that even talking seemed like an insurmountable effort. She said nothing as he carefully pushed her legs into the car and buckled her seat belt.  She turned to look as he got in the driver's side and started the car, but she was asleep before they pulled out of the rest stop.

When Darcy next opened her eyes, she was lying on a motel bed and the man was kneeling on the floor, carefully cleaning her knees.  He glanced at her briefly when she opened her eyes, but kept his attention on his task until he was finished.

“Thank you.”

He nodded once in her direction.  

“How’s your back?”

He tilted his head a little, “My back?”

“Are the bruises bad?” she asked.

“Bruises?” he repeated.

She blinked a couple of times, “From when you got hit?”

“Oh,” he was quiet for a moment, “I heal fast.”

“Yeah, but still,” she said.  “I could go see if there’s an ice machine or something?”

“No,” he said quietly, meeting her gaze.  “I heal fast.  Very fast.”

“Oh!  Oh,” she said.  “Can I see?”

He hesitated for a moment, but he turned and presented his back to her.  His fingers tangled in the side of his shirt and it lifted it enough to expose the majority of his back.  There were six bruises, round, yellowish and fading.

“You got hit six times,” she said quietly.  She remembered the feeling of being in his arms when the bullets had stuck his back, when she thought he’d actually been shot.

He tugged his shirt back into place, “I’m not hurt, Darcy.”  He turned back to meet her gaze, “Really.  I’m fine.”

“Okay,” she said quietly.

She sat up and he handed her a small pad of paper and pen.

“Make the list.  I want to try to narrow down our pool of suspects.”

Darcy took the pen and began to write.

_ Steve _

_ Jane _

_ Thor _

“Full names, please,” he murmured.

_ Steve Rogers _

_ Jane Foster _

_ Thor Odinson _

_ Forseti Baldurson _

_ Sif _

“I don’t actually know Sif’s last name,” Darcy looked up.

“She’s an Asgardian?” he continued when she nodded, “Don’t worry about that.”

_ Hogun Grim _

_ Fandral Dashing _

_ Volstagg Valiant _

_ Eric Selvig _

_ Tony Stark _

_ Pepper Potts _

_ Natasha Romanov _

_ Clint Barton _

_ Bruce Banner _

_ Wanda Maximoff _

_ Helen Cho _

_ Sam Wilson _

_ Jasper Sitwell _

_ Maria Hill _

_ Melinda May _

“I think this is everyone?” she said after a moment.

“May I?”

She nodded and he took the list.

_ Steve Rogers _

_ Jane Foster _

_ Thor Odinson _

_ Forseti Baldurson _

_ Sif _

_ Hogun Grim _

_ Fandral Dashing _

_ Volstagg Valiant _

_ Eric Selvig _

_ Tony Stark _

_ Pepper Potts _

_ Natasha Romanov _

_ Clint Barton _

_ Bruce Banner _

_ Wanda Maximoff _

_ Helen Cho _

_ Sam Wilson _

_ Jasper Sitwell _

_ Maria Hill _

_ Melinda May _

“Why did you scratch out Steve and all the Asgardians?” she asked.

“Because none of them are working for Hydra.”

“None of the Avengers are either.”

“Are you willing to stake your life on it?” he challenged.  He continued at the stubborn expression on her face, “Are you willing to stake Steve’s life on it?”

“Steve trusts the Avengers,” she countered.

He shook his head.

Darcy hesitated briefly, “Not Bruce.”

“Bruce Banner.  The Hulk.”

Darcy nodded.

“Bruce Banner was slated to be one of the first targets of Project Insight,” he murmured to himself.

“What?  What does that mean?”

He shook his head, “Let’s just say you’re right about Banner.  He’s not Hydra.  Okay,” he agreed.  “New list.”  He turned to a new piece of paper and rewrote the list.

_ Jane Foster _

_ Eric Selvig _

_ Tony Stark  _

_ Pepper Potts _

_ Natasha Romanov _

_ Clint Barton _

_ Wanda Maximoff _

_ Helen Cho _

_ Sam Wilson _

_ Jasper Sitwell _

_ Maria Hill _

_ Melinda May _

Darcy frowned uncomfortably.

“I know that you look at this list of people and see your friends, but keep in mind that one of them took a photo of you and Steve in the Tower and gave it to Hydra.”

“It wasn’t Jane.”

“Jane Foster?  You used to work for her, right?”

Darcy nodded.

“She’s your friend.  You like her.   You’re letting your personal feelings influence you.”

“No, I-” she worried her bottom lip.

“What?”

“Promise me you’ll never repeat what I’m about to tell you.”

He tilted his head, “Tell me?”

“Seriously,” she insisted.  “Promise.”

He nodded, “Okay.  I promise.”

“I saw Jane move Myuh-myuh.   Mjölnir, I mean.  I can’t think of anything that would be a better character reference than that.”

He stared at for her a long moment, but finally his fingers tightened around the pen and he crossed off her name.  “Selvig is a scientist.  A colleague of Jane’s?”

“Yeah, we try to keep tabs on him.  He hasn’t exactly been okay since the Battle of New York.”

“He stays on the list.  Tony Stark is Iron Man.  He’s the son of Howard and Maria Stark,” he said, seeming to recite it.

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed.  “That’s pretty common knowledge.  Pepper Potts is his girlfriend.  She runs Stark Industries.  I actually had lunch with her yesterday.  I like her alot.” 

“Stark isn’t Hydra,” he said after a moment, crossing off the name.  “I have limited intel on Pepper Potts.  She stays on the list.”

Darcy shrugged, “Okay.”

“Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton,” he crossed both of their names off, “Neither is receptive to the goals of Hydra.  Wanda Maximoff is an Agent of Hydra.  She’s one of Struckers.”

“Was.” Darcy said.

“She stays on the list,” he said.  “Helen Cho.”

Darcy shrugged, “I’ve only met her a couple of times.  She seemed nice, but who fucking knows.”

“She stays.  Sam Wilson.”  He tensed a little, “Sam Wilson is the Falcon.  He fought with Steve in DC.”

Darcy nodded.

He crossed Sam’s name off.  He turned the page and rewrote the list.

_ Eric Selvig _

_ Pepper Potts _

_ Wanda Maximoff _

_ Helen Cho _

_ Jasper Sitwell _

_ Maria Hill _

_ Melinda May _

“Sitwell, Hill and May.”

“They’re all SHIELD.  Clint knows them.  I think May was actually really good friends with Coulson and that's why she came.  She didn’t stay long.”

“Phillip Coulson is deceased.  He was killed in the battle of New York by the alien invader, Loki.”

“Yeah, but he and Clint were together,” Darcy said quietly.  “I think some of his SHIELD buddies try to keep an eye on Clint.”

“You knew him?”

She nodded, “Yeah.  I don’t think it was one of them, but,” she exhaled, “But it had to somebody.  It just sucks to think about it, you know?  One of these people betrayed us.”  She met his gaze, “I thought this thing with Hydra was mostly handled, but then I found something out yesterday.”

“What?” he inquired.

She couldn’t help but lower her voice a little.  “There’s this Hydra assassin who wants to kill Steve.”

He reared back.

“Clint told me his name is the Winter Soldier,” she whispered.  “Apparently Steve’s been trying to track him down.  Clint told me he’s really dangerous.  Do you think this has something to do with him?”

He made a sound like she’d punched him, but stilled when she caught one of his hands, “I’m sorry… I said something wrong?  Do you know him?”  For a moment, she couldn’t quite understand what had him so afraid.  Her grip loosened and her fingers brushed against the sleeve of an arm she suddenly realized was made of metal.  She met his gaze and watched as he backed up, nearly tripping over himself in his haste to get away from her, until his back hit the wall.

She understood then and for a moment she was completely terrified.  But the look of fear on his face eclipsed her own. 

“Are you…” she swallowed thickly and when she spoke, it wasn’t a question, “You are the Winter Soldier.”

“I would never hurt you,” he rasped.  “I promise, Darcy.  I would never hurt you.  Please believe me.”

“Come here.”

“I-”

“If you don’t come here, I’m going to come over there and my legs are shaking and I’ll probably fall on my face and mess my knees up even worse so please come over here!” she insisted.

He moved a little closer, eyes wide, inching forward slowly until he was standing by the bed.

“If I ask you to explain everything to me, will you?”

He shook his head.

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me.  I believe you.  What about Steve?”

“I won’t hurt him either.  I never wanted to hurt him.  I don’t want to hurt anyone,” he whispered.  “Hydra, they…” his voice caught, “I had no control.  They made me…”

“Okay,” she said gently, because she desperately wanted the look of wild terror in his face to go away, “Okay.  For now I’ll just… I’ll just say thank you then.”

“Thank you?” he demanded, staring at her in shock.  “What?”

“Thank you for helping me,” she said.  “I’m grateful.”

He stared at her for a long moment, mouth open, before he swallowed and managed a nod.  “You’re welcome,” he spoke tentatively, questioningly.  

She smiled a little, “The Winter Soldier is kind of a mouthful.  What’s your name?”

He shook his head, stricken and panicked.

“Maybe I could just call you Winter?” she asked gently.

He nodded slowly, “Yeah.  It’s… Winter is okay.  I can answer to that.”

“Should I stay awake so you can get some sleep?”

He shook his head, “No.  Go back to sleep.”

“Come sit with me?”  She scooted to the other side of the bed and stared at him until he sat down. She felt something square pressing against her thigh and reached into her skirt pocket to find her iPod.  She tugged it out and unwound the earbuds, offering them to Winter.

“Here.”

He stared at her in faint confusion, but obediently put them in his ears when she nodded encouragingly.  Darcy glanced through her music selection quickly before picking a song that she hoped might sooth some of the tension from his shoulders.  If he wouldn’t sleep, perhaps he would at least be able to relax.   

“This is one of my favorite songs,” she murmured, stifling a yawn.

She could hear the faint sounds of the song playing and tried to stay awake to watch him listen, but somewhere around  _ ‘[I climbed the tree to see the world,’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkP6Tf79UrM) _ she fell asleep.

She woke up with her head on his thigh and one of his hands resting on top of her head.  He moved his hand away when she shifted and offered a small smile and a quiet greeting.

“Good morning.”

“You didn’t sleep at all?”

He shook his head.  “I was keeping watch.  You have enough time for a shower before we go,” he offered.

She nodded, “Okay.”

Despite his nonchalance she showered fairly quickly, but grimaced at the sight of her clothes after she was clean.  Winter knocked on the door just as she was using her finger to brush her teeth with the complimentary toothpaste.

“Would you like some clean clothes?”

“Yeah, please!” she called.  She rinsed her mouth quickly and made sure her towel was secure before opening the door and peering out.  She accepted the pile of clothes that he offered with a fleeting smile.  There was prepackaged underwear and socks, a sports bra, a pair of dark stretchy, yoga style pants and a dark blue t-shirt.  Darcy dressed quickly and pulled her hair up into a haphazard bun before exiting the bathroom.

“Thanks,” she gestured at the clothes.

“Glad it fits okay.  Bad news is my educated guess about your shoe size was pretty off.  We’ll get you something when we stop for lunch.  Sound okay?”

She nodded.  He’d changed as well, and now he looked more like a post-grad hipster, with worn jeans, a t-shirt, large rimmed glasses and his hair pulled back.  It made her smile a little and he touched the glasses self-consciously.  “Too much?”

She shook her head, “Uh, nope.  Not at all.  You can pull it off.”

His smile was shy, but he nodded.  “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“North,” he said simply.  He turned and bent his knees a little, “Jump on.”

“What?”

“You don’t have shoes.  Jump on.”

Something about it struck her as ridiculous and she didn’t bother to contain her laughter as she accepted a piggyback ride to the car.  She continued to laugh as he dumped her into the passenger seat, but smiled a little when he cushioned her head with his hand so it wouldn’t hit the doorframe.

“Thanks.”

He met her gaze briefly, and he wasn’t exactly smiling but somehow he still looked happy, “Welcome.”  He was quiet until they were on the highway, “I liked that song you played last night.  It made me feel sort of sad, but somehow in a nice way.  I don’t know a lot about music, but it was nice.”

She smiled.

“Maybe,” he shifted a little, “Maybe tonight you could pick another song for me to listen to.  If- uh, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” she said easily, casually, since she sensed it hadn’t been easy for him to ask. 

They stopped for lunch at a diner after Winter popped into a convenience store and got a pair of slip on shoes for her.  They ate slowly and Darcy stretched her legs, glad to be out of the car for a while.

“I could drive if you want to nap?”

He shook his head.

She shrugged, “Offers open.”  She ate a little more of her sandwich, “I’m having a weird thought.  Maybe it’s stupid.”

“Tell me,” he invited.

“Okay.  How sure are you that Hydra wants to use me against Steve somehow?”

“Fairly sure?” he replied promptly, but his expression was one of interest.  “They’ve been watching you for a while now.”

“Yeah, but how sure are you that their interest in me is because of  _ Steve _ ?”

“Fairly sure,” he repeated.  “The day they took you, Steve burned down one of their bases.   I assumed that it was a response to that.  There’s two other possibilities that have occurred to me but I can’t… I can’t.”

“You can’t tell me?” she asked.

He swallowed thickly and steeled himself, “They have certain techniques they can use to brainwash people.  It's possible they planned to take you and once they had you under their control, they would release you.”

Darcy nodded jerkily, “Oh, God.  I don’t even want to think about the damage I could do.  I have unrestricted access to the Tower.  Okay.  I don’t even want to think about that.  Fuck.  I can’t-“

“That will never happen,” he growled lowly.  “I will burn them to the ground before I let them take you.”

Darcy closed her eyes for a moment, but steeled herself and nodded.  “And the other?”

“They might want to trade you for someone.”

“For who?”

He hesitated briefly, “For me.”

She frowned a little, “You?”

“They haven’t been able to find me since DC.  Some of them think that Steve is hiding me.”

She plowed forward, moving past the revelation his reply had sparked.  “I was just thinking that maybe this has something to do with my position at the Consulate.”

Because in that moment, she knew.  The man sitting across from her, the Winter Soldier, was James Buchanan Barnes.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in text link leads to the song on youtube

**Part Three**

James Buchanan Barnes. 

_ They don’t get to have you.  They don’t get to take you and use you against him.   _ He’d said it like he was all twisted up with rage and hurt.

_ Yeah, I meant Steve.   _ He’d whispered it, like the mere name was enough to make him fall apart.

Steve.  Steve.  Steve.  Steve.  Never Steve Rogers.  Never Captain Rogers.  Never Captain America.  He’d always referred to him as Steve.

_ Are you willing to stake Steve’s life on it?   _ Worry.  Concern.  Fear.

_ I wouldn’t hurt him either.   _ Hatred.  Self-hatred maybe.

_ They might want to trade you for someone.   _ Shame.

Darcy Lewis was sitting across from Bucky Barnes.  It made zero sense and, somehow, it made everything click into place.  Hydra had taken him, they’d done something to him and when the time was right they’d tried to use him to kill Steve.  And Steve-

Steve had been off, he’d been so off-balanced since DC and she’d blamed it on Hydra.  He’d probably been devastated and falling apart in front of her ever since then and she’d never even noticed.  Because Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes had been twisted up in each other and madly in love.  His lover had come back from the dead, only to try to kill him, and he’d borne it in silence.

Darcy forced herself to take another bite of her sandwich and a sip of her drink.  Bucky was staring at her, frowning lightly.

“You run the Asgardian Consulate in New York.”

She managed a nod and snuck a brief glance at him before returning her attention to her plate.  He’d risked his life to protect her, to protect Steve from being hurt. He could have gone into hiding, left the whole world behind, but he hadn’t.  He’d kept watch and when things went wrong, he’d come for her without any thought for his own safety.  The very first thing he’d done was use his own body to shield her from being shot.  Whatever Hydra had done to him, he wasn’t the Winter Soldier any longer.  Or at least he was no longer  _ just  _ the Winter Soldier.

Her heart ached, but in that moment she made her own decision.  She looked at him and she saw, so easily, exactly why Steve had loved him.  She understood why Steve had been so twisted up about what happened in DC, why he hadn’t been able to find the words to tell her.  It was because he was still in love with Bucky Barnes.  The thought hurt and for a long moment she just let the feeling settle.

Through the hurt, a feeling of protectiveness towards Bucky emerged.  He looked like a man ready to fight the entire world, and she didn’t want that for him.  She wanted him somewhere safe.  So she decided that whatever happened, she was going to get Bucky Barnes back to Steve Rogers.  No matter the cost.

“Tell me more,” he prompted.

She forced herself to focus back on their discussion.  “I don’t know, it's not as exciting as it sounds.  I spend most of my time organizing the exchanges.  You know about that?”

He nodded.

“I’m working on the third one right now.  SHIELD is being kind of a pain in the ass about it.  But anyway, even though I’m human, I was granted honorary kinship by the Prince of Asgard so they can claim me as a citizen and I have the authority to represent them as their Consul.  There’s a whole thing about it on the website.  It doesn’t actually mean anything, but maybe someone thought they could get something from the Asgardians?”

“It’s certainly possible,” he admitted thoughtfully.  “Do you have any way to get in touch with Thor?”

“He’s off-planet.  The only other Asgardian in residence is Forseti Baldurson.  He’s the Ambassador.”

“He’s in DC?”

Darcy nodded.  “I don’t suppose I can call him?”

Bucky shook his head.  Darcy sighed a little, but didn’t pursue it.  Bucky raised an eyebrow at her, “Something wrong with your sandwich?”

“Huh?  Oh, no.  It’s fine,” she replied, taking another bite.  She finished it in a hurry and took a couple of sips of her soda, “Time to go?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Just tired.  And, you know, scared,” she said quietly with a small shrug.  “Terrified, to be honest.”

He stared at her for a moment, but finally nodded.  They lingered long enough to use the restroom, before settling their tab and getting back in the car.

“It’s okay if you’re afraid of me.”

“I’m not.  When I said I was scared, I didn’t mean I was scared of you.”

He wiggled the fingers of his metal arm, “I know you’d probably rather that it was anyone else who was here, but-“

“No.”

“No?” he repeated in surprise.

“No,” she said.  She stared at him, thinking about all that he had done for her.  The man before her wasn’t the same man from DC.  He was more Bucky Barnes than Winter Soldier.  His loyalty was clearly to the people he loved; not Hydra.  She knew there was a certain amount of risk in the conclusion she’d made, but she forged ahead anyway.  “I don’t wish that, and I’m not afraid of you.”

There was a hint of wonder on his face, almost a smile, as he turned to sneak a quick glance at her.  “You aren’t just saying that.  You really mean it.”

She nodded, but avoided his gaze.  It was hard to look at him without wanting to cry.

He exhaled slowly and they drove for a while.  Darcy glanced around and did a double take at the highway sign.  “Take the next exit.”

“What?” he demanded in surprise.  “Why?!”

“Take the next exit!”

Bucky changed lanes quickly, taking the exit.  He followed her directions to a residential street in a nice New Haven neighborhood.  His mouth was tight, but he pulled over at her request.  She unbuckled her belt and leaned forward, pointing at a house a couple hundred feet away.

“That house belongs to Barney Barton.”

“Barney Barton?”

She nodded, “Yeah.  Clint gave me the address and the security code.  It’s a meet up point if something goes wrong and I can’t get back to the Tower.”

“Darcy,” Bucky said gently.  “We can’t.  We can’t trust him.”

“Maybe not,” she said.  “But Barney Barton is an FBI Agent so we can raid his house for supplies.”

“Supplies?” he seemed tentatively interested.  

“Guns and stuff.  Maybe some clothes.  Food.  Whatever.  I just noticed that we were close and I thought-” she ducked her head, “Ok. It was stupid.”

“You’re wondering if you can distract me long enough to leave him a message without me noticing.”  

“No.”

“You-”

“Winter,” she said, “No.  I’m not wondering that.”

“I won’t stop you,” he said.  He leaned forward and pressed his head against the steering wheel.  “I won’t stop you if you want to go.  I will leave you here and go, if you ask.  Only please,” he begged, “Please, please don’t ask me to do that.  They will catch you and whatever it is they want you for-- it will be awful.”

“Winter…” she whispered.

“And I’d come for you,” he promised.  “I would.  But I don’t know how long it would take me to find you…Darcy, they can’t have you.  Not even for a moment.  I can’t even bear to imagine it.  Please don’t ask me to go.”

Darcy exited the car, jogged around to the driver’s side and yanked the door open.  Bucky stared up at her with wide, surprised eyes.  She offered him her hand.

“I’m not asking you to leave me here.”

He took it, intertwining their fingers as he got out of the car.  “Oh.”  He seemed briefly at a loss, but moved to walk with her when she tugged on his hand gently.

“I just figured… more guns is always good, right?” she commented mildly as they crossed the street.

He stared at her for a moment, before grinning.  It wasn’t like any expression she’d seen him make and Darcy nearly tripped over her own feet at the sight of it.  “I wouldn’t say no to some grenades.”  

They’d been in Barney Barton’s house for less than ten minutes before Winter had found several caches of weapons, including grenades, a whole lot of camping equipment, and a bag of mixed currency.  They loaded up the car with most of the stuff they wanted to borrow, but Bucky caught her elbow on the last trip.

“Leave him a note.”

“Really?”

Bucky nodded, “Just to let Steve know you’re alive.  Nothing else.  Don’t say anything about me.”

Darcy grabbed a pen and piece of paper and set about writing a quick note while Bucky took a final look around the house.

_ Agent Barton, please give this to Clint to give to Steve. _

_ Steve, _

_ First of all, please tell Barney Barton that I’m  _ _ super _ _ sorry we straight up robbed his house.  Maybe let him keep this note as proof of an I O U.   I’m fine.  I’m not hurt.  Well, I scraped my knee, but I’m not hurt.  I _

“Hands up!  Turn around slowly!”

Darcy raised her hands off the table and stood, turning to see a stony faced Barney Barton.  He was tense, his gun raised, but he lowered it a little when he caught sight of her face.  His eyes narrowed, but she could see the moment he realized he knew who she was.  

“Wha-”

Bucky barreled into him from the side, knocking his gun out of his hand.  Barney hit the ground hard, but lashed out at Bucky immediately.  They grappled wildly, both managing to get back to their feet.  They crashed into the wall hard and a nearby lamp tipped over and broke.

Darcy screamed when they began to fight. “Don’t hurt him!”

Bucky got Barney by the throat with his metal arm against the wall, free hand aiming a gun at his forehead.

“Don’t hurt him,” Darcy repeated.

“He pointed a gun at you,” Bucky said, his eyes glued to Barney’s face.  He had him pinned and his grip was tight, but he intentionally didn’t impede the other man’s ability to breathe.

“Winter, please.  Let him go.”

“He wasn’t supposed to be here.”

“But... he is,” she said.  She moved closer to Bucky and rested a hand on his free arm,  “So don’t hurt him, okay?”  She pushed on his arm gently until the gun was pointed at the floor.

Bucky released him and took a step back, herding Darcy with him.  Barney pitched forward, gasping for breath, but stilled when he caught sight of the gun Bucky had lifted and aimed at his throat.

“What the fuck is this?” Barney demanded.

“I’m a friend of your brother’s,” Darcy said.

“I know who you are.  I also know that the threat level for the whole Northeast region was raised because everyone thinks you’ve been abducted by maniacal Nazis.  What the hell is going on!?”

“This is-”

“Do not tell him who I am!” Bucky growled.

“Ugh!” Darcy threw her hands up in the air.  “For fuck’s sake.  Fine.  This totally random dude and I are on the run from the aforementioned maniacal Nazis.  We just wanted to stop here to, um, borrow some supplies.  Maybe some grenades.”

“Stop telling him things,” Bucky objected.  “He might be Hydra.”

“At some point we’re going to have to trust someone.  I trust Clint.  Clint trusts Barney.  That’s enough for me.”

Bucky scowled but lowered his gun.  “Watch yourself,” he warned Barney.  “You go for her, you die.”

“Fucking god damn Clint,” Barney growled, pushing himself off the wall, “I never had this drama in my life before that kid got mixed up with SHIELD and the Avengers.  Why couldn’t he have just stayed in the circus?!  He was popular.  He made good money.  And I never had to worry about people breaking into my house in the middle of a fucking Wednesday to try to steal my grenades.  I knew I should have transferred to the New York office to keep an eye on that asshole.”  He aimed his glare in Bucky’s direction, “I’m not Hydra and I’m not going to try to hurt her, so you can fuck  _ right off _ .”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed.  “We’ll tie him up on our way out.”

“How about no?” Barney replied.

“He’s Clint’s brother,” Darcy said gently, pleadingly.  “Please.  Please,” she took hold of his wrist, her fingers loosely wrapped around it as she looked up at him imploringly.  

Bucky was unmoved by her argument, but felt terribly guilty that she was upset.  “I won’t kill him.”

“Speaking of Clint,” Barney said, “How about we call him and-”

Bucky raised his gun again and Barney went silent.

On the verge of tears, Darcy tried to move to stand between the two men.  Bucky allowed the movement, but shifted around her to keep the weapon aimed at Barney.

“Don’t do that!” he insisted.  “You don’t ever put yourself in front of a gun!”

“Then put it down!”

“I already said I won’t kill him,” Bucky objected.  “I’m just going to tie him up.”

“Winter!” she objected.

“I’ll even tie him up nicely,” Bucky offered.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Barney demanded.

“He can sit comfortably somewhere with a pillow and a bottle of water.  I won’t even knock him unconscious.  He’s an FBI Agent.  They’ll notice him missing fairly quickly and he’ll be fine.”

Darcy stared at him with watery eyes.

“What should I do?” Bucky lowered his voice.  “Do you honestly think he’s going to  _ let me _ take you away without a fight?”

“What if I gave my word to let you both leave?” Barney offered.

Bucky studied him carefully, perplexed.  The offer was an honest one, but he wasn’t sure what had prompted the other man to make it. 

“What do you want in exchange?”

“A five minute call to my brother before you go,” Barney said.

“Fifteen seconds,” Bucky countered.

“Three minutes.

“One minute,” Bucky said, eyes narrowing, as he lowered his gun.

“Deal,” Barney agreed.  “I’m gonna get my phone.  Don’t fucking shoot me, okay?”  Moving slowly, he lifted the phone out of his back pocket.  He began the call and put it on speaker, holding it out between the three of them.

“Barney?”

An expression of complete relief went over Darcy’s face at the sound of her friend’s voice.

“Clint,” Barney replied.  “There’s someone here who wants to talk to you.”

“What?” Clint asked in surprise.  “Who?”

“Clint?” Darcy called.

“Oh god,” Clint said, his voice weak with relief.  “Thank fuck.  Someone get Steve!” he bellowed.  “Darcy, holy shit.  Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“You’re in New Haven?”

“I guess that’s obvious?” Darcy said with a worried glance at Bucky.

“Is there anyone there besides my brother?”

Darcy looked to Bucky.  Bucky raised a single finger to his lips and shook his head slowly.

“No?” she replied tentatively.

“For fucks sake,” Barney murmured.  

“Okay,” Clint said.  “I know that isn’t true.  Is he listening now?”

“Clint,” Darcy began.

“I’m going to take that as a yes.  Whoever he is, he has two extremely valuable hostages.  He needs to tell us what he wants in exchange for your safe return.”

“Uhhh,” Darcy started, sounding unsure... “No one is actually a hostage.”

“Darcy…”

“Clint,” she said sharply, “I’m not a hostage and neither is your brother.  Neither of us is hurt.”

“Says you,” Barney retorted.  “You’re not the one who almost had their throat crushed by this lunatic.”

“Barney-” Clint began, panic in his voice.

“But she’s right on the first count, Clint,” Barney said, his voice gentling.  “Neither of us are hostages.  He’s not trying to force anyone to do anything and he’s made no ultimatum.  They didn’t come here looking for me.  I surprised them.”

“Okay,” Clint said slowly.  “Let’s  _ say  _ I believe you about that.  Then what the hell is going on?  What happened in Darcy’s apartment?  Why is she in Connecticut, at your house?  Who is this guy, why is he doing what he’s doing and what does the want?  Why won’t he let her go home?”

“I know the answer to  _ zero  _ of those questions.  Except maybe the third one.  They wanted grenades.”

“What the hell do you need grenades for, Darcy?!” Clint demanded.

“I don’t know!” she said defensively, “I just thought it might be good to have some.”

“Tell me what is going on!  Right now!” he shouted.  “I’m coming to Connecticut-”

“Don’t.  Don’t come here.  Don’t try to follow us,” Bucky warned, snatching the cell phone out of Barney’s hand.  “You’ll just make it worse if you do.”  He dropped the phone and stomped on it.

“You are a complete asshole.  You know that right?” Barney shouted.  

“Yep.  We met your condition.  And that was a hell of a lot longer than one minute.  We’re leaving.  Now.”

Barney shrugged, “I can’t fucking stop you, can I?”

“You can’t,” Bucky agreed.  He held out his hand to Darcy, “let’s go.” 

Darcy took the offered hand, but went still.  “Uh.  Oh no.  Bad.  Super bad.”

“What?”

“There are masked men on the sidewalk,” she began.  But the words dried up in her mouth because she realized that if she could see them, they could see her.  One of them raised his weapon, taking aim through the window.  Darcy had a split second to understand that she was about to be shot before Barney crashed into her.  The window exploded in a storm of bullets and shower of glass. Barney waited for the gunfire to pause before flipping the dining room table and shoving her behind it.

There was only the sound of gunfire, interspersed with screams of pain.  After a few minutes Barney came back and offered her a hand up.  She followed him, moving around the bodies, into the kitchen.  Bucky was in there with one of them and he seemed to be trying to pry something out of the man’s mouth.

“You don’t get to fucking die until you tell me what I want to know!” he spat.  He straightened, a tooth in one hand, and turned to toss it in the sink.  Catching sight of Darcy, he stilled.

“Are you hurt?” she asked.

“Is he hurt?!” Barney demanded.  “For fuck’s sake, I’m pretty sure that asshole is bullet proof.  Is he hurt?  I don’t think he even broke a sweat,” he announced. 

“Are you hurt, Agent Barton?” she asked

“I’m fucking fine,” he replied, gruffly.  “Your boy’s not hurt either.  No one who shouldn’t be is hurt.  Now,” he took a couple of steps closer, “Who the hell are you?”

The man stared at him in sullen silence.

“No time for niceties,” Bucky said after a moment.  “Agent Barton, might I prevail upon you to lend me a pair of pliers?”  He glanced at Darcy, “You’re not going to watch this.”

“I-”

“No,” he said gently.  “You’re not going to watch this.”

Her eyes darted to the Hydra Agent.

“Don’t look at him,” Bucky said.  “Look at me.”  He continued when she met his gaze, “Go.  You’re not going to watch this.”

She edged backwards, lingering long enough to see Barney give Bucky not only pliers, but also an ice pick and a hammer.  She clapped her hands over her ears when the screaming began.  It continued and continued and she pressed herself into a corner in the room, hands still over her ears, and fought not to cry.  She didn’t realize that the screaming had stopped until Bucky was suddenly kneeling in front of her.  He put his hands over hers and gently pulled her hands away from the sides of her head.

He swallowed thickly, “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head.

“I am,” he insisted.  

“You don’t need to apologize to me,” she said.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he glanced at his watch briefly before rising and offering her his hand.

Darcy accepted and pressed herself against his side when she was upright.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the front door.  Barney handed Bucky a backpack at the door.

“Go on.”

At some point between saying goodbye to Barney and getting back in the car, Darcy began to weep.  Bucky mumbled a curse under his breath and kept a hand on her shoulder as he started the car.  Darcy curled up in the seat, still crying, but trying to catch her breath as the longer it went on, the more agitated Bucky seemed to get.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, panicked, taking his eyes off the road briefly to look at her.  “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

She shook her head.

“I scared you?  I scared you,” he said.  “Fuck.  Darcy.  You shouldn’t have had to- I mean- Fuck,” he managed.  “We have to go,” he said to himself.  “Fuck.  No.  I can’t take this.  I’m gonna pull over, okay?  Hold on.  Let me find a decent place to stop.”

“Don’t stop,” she said.  “I’m fine.  We don’t need to stop.”

“You’re not fine,” he said gently.  

She swallowed, “What did you learn from that guy?”

“He was Hydra.  They didn’t know _ I  _ was with you.  They don’t know how you escaped your apartment.  Their orders were to capture you and leave no witnesses.  He didn’t know what exactly they wanted you for.  The assault team in New Haven was small because they’d already been assigned to sit on Barney Barton.  They weren’t expecting us to show up.  Please tell me why you’re crying.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Please?” he asked quietly.

She shook her head.

“You don’t have to pretend you aren’t disgusted with me,” he murmured.

“I miss Steve,” she admitted, her voice cracking.  She hated herself a little for saying that to him, but she couldn’t keep it in, not when he was so worried that he was the cause of her distress.  “I-“

“Tell me,” he invited.  “You can tell me anything.  It’s okay.  I promise.” 

“He told me he loved me for the first time ever on Monday.”

Bucky smiled a little, seeming pleased by the admission, “Did he make a grand, romantic declaration?  Something real special?”

“We were arguing in the elevator,” Darcy admitted.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Typical.  What a punk.”

The reply made Darcy smile and she wiped the tears off her face.

“Want to tell me more about him?” Bucky invited.

“You want to know?” she asked.

“I do,” he said evenly.

“I mean, there’s all the obvious stuff.  He’s just so good, you know?  That Captain America stuff isn’t a character he puts on for public appearances or whatever.  He really is like a paragon of justice.  He cares, you know.  He cares a lot and it shows in his actions.”

Bucky smiled, “Yeah.”

“He’s so sweet, but also a little awkward, I think.  He was supposed to be my partner for this security thing that Clint setup for everyone associated with the Avengers.  But our first meeting was more like a date than a consultation and we just, I don’t know, we just clicked.”

“Barton will tell him you’re okay,” Bucky said gently.

“He was in DC, but I guess he must have come back.  I wasn’t sure,” she admitted.  “He said he was going dark and I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to find him to tell him I’m gone.”

“He’s following one of my false trails.”

Darcy studied him for a moment, “Why did you make him false trails?”

“I don’t want him to find me,” Bucky admitted.

“Why not?”

“What could I say to him?  Hey, sorry I beat the shit out of you?  Sorry I tried to kill you?”

“He healed.”

“Darcy, I shot him.  Multiple times,” he admitted at a whisper.  “How is he supposed to forgive me for something like that? I have a reputation, you must know about that, right?  I have this long, terrible history.  And then I came and I hurt him.  I almost killed him.  Why should he see me as anything more than a tool of Hydra?”

“You really don’t think he’d forgive you?” She tilted her head, “Or is it the opposite?  You’re afraid he will forgive you and you won’t know what to do next?”

Bucky glanced at her, his eyes a little wide, and Darcy smiled gently.

“There’s more to it,” he admitted after a minute.  “The things I did while Hydra had control of me…” he shook his head, “I know that they weren’t my fault.  I had no control, but that thought gives me little comfort.  It doesn’t take the edge off how horrible it was.  Because I still did those things.  They still happened.  And nothing can ever change that.”

“Winter,” she said softly.

He plowed on, “But I know that there’s a lot of interest in me.  Some people would like to see me punished.  Other people would like to get whatever information they can from me before dropping me in a dark hole and leaving me to rot.  And then there’s the ones who would like me to work for them.”  He shook his head slowly.  “I don’t want to die.  Maybe I deserve to, but I want to live.  I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison.  I don’t want to be forced to work for another group like Hydra.”

“What  _ do  _ you want?” Darcy asked.

“I want…” his tone was wistful, “I want to make sure the people I love are safe.  I want to see that they’re alright.  I want to know that they’re going to be okay, and then I want to disappear.  I want to fade away, to find a new life and make my way without hurting anyone.”

“And what about the people that love you?” she wondered.

He shook his head.

“Don’t you think they’d want you to stay?”

He shook his head again.

“What about me?” she asked gently.  “Once you’ve found the traitor, you’re just going to vanish and I’ll never see you again?  Is that your plan?”

He looked at her in surprise, “There’s no room for me in this world, Darcy.  Not as I am.”

“You’re wrong.” She insisted.  “And if you leave, I’ll-”

“You’ll what?”

“I’d be sad,” she admitted quietly.  “I’d wonder-- I’d worry about you, and I would be sad.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel, “You.”

“I…?”

“I don’t even know,” he managed.  “Just you.  I don’t know.  What are you doing?”

“I’m looking out for you.”

“Why?” he demanded.

“Because you looked out for me,” she admitted, “And because I think that maybe no one has looked out for you in a long time.”

Something about that struck a chord with him, but it wasn’t what she’d hoped.  He seemed edgy, a little wild around the eyes, and wouldn’t reply to anything that she said with anything more than a shake of his head.  Darcy put a hand on his arm.

“This isn’t about saving myself.  It isn’t about redemption,” he said quietly.  “So don’t go thinking that, okay?  None of this is about me.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“No,” he denied.

“Yes.”

“No,” he replied, a hint of frustration in his voice.

“Yes.”

“No!” he insisted.

“Yes,” Darcy countered.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.  Damnit, Darcy.  You’re stubborn.  Of course you’re stubborn!  Jesus Christ, I can’t even imagine what it must like to be in the same room as the two of you.”

“I’m hungry.”

“I’m sorry, I thought we were arguing!” He replied incredulously.  

“Oh?  Fine.  Still yes.”

“For fucks sake!”

Darcy grinned, “Aren’t you hungry?  It’s dinner time.”

“Fine!  We can get food.  But this isn’t over.’

“Of course it isn’t,” Darcy agreed.

“Don’t think you can out stubborn me, woman,” he grumbled under his breath as he took the next exit off the highway.  “I’ve developed a fucking immunity to this shit.”

“If you say so,” she agreed.

Bucky glared at her out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.  They chose another nondescript diner for dinner and Darcy spent most of her meal smirking at Bucky.  In return, Bucky rolled his eyes.

“It’ll be easier in the long run if you just agree with me,” she suggested.  “Hey, can we stay long enough for dessert?  I want a milkshake.”

Bucky sighed loudly, but ordered two milkshakes the next time the waitress passed by.  Her smile dried a little as she drank.

“I hope Steve isn’t worried.”

Bucky sighed, “It’s probably only a matter of time before he realizes that you’re with me.  Even if Barney Barton didn’t recognize me, he saw my arm.  They’ll know it's me.”

“And they’ll know that you’ve been protecting me,” she said gently.

“They have no reason to trust me.”

“I trust you.”

Bucky blinked at her, “I don’t know what to say to you.  I don’t know if I should be amazed or terrified or angry.  You are… I don’t even know what to do with you.”

“And I think Steve trusts you too.”

Bucky shook his head, “No.  I hurt him.  Once he realizes that you’re with me…” his voice lowered, “He’s probably terrified for you.”

“That wasn’t you.”

He looked away for a minute, “You about done with that?  I want to drive for a little longer before we stop for the night.”

“How about I drive?” she said. 

He shook his head.

“You’ve gotta sleep at some point, Winter.”

He didn’t argue the point, but he got behind the wheel when they left the diner.  They drove for a while longer before he picked a nondescript motel and they stopped for the night.  Bucky disappeared into the bathroom for a while and Darcy fiddled with her iPod for a bit while he showered.  He came out of the bathroom and sat beside her, looking at the iPod.

“Got a song for me?”

She nodded.

“I’m gonna rest for a few minutes.”

“I’ll stay awake,” she promised.

“Wake me in forty five minutes.  I’ll keep watch while you sleep.”

“That's completely ridiculous.  Forty five minutes is not long enough.”

“It’s fine,” he insisted.

“Nope.”

“Okay, fine.  I’ll let you drive tomorrow and I’ll nap in the car.”

“For more than forty five minutes?”

He nodded, “Promise.  Can I have my song now, please?”

Darcy passed him the earbuds and started the song once he was settled.  Bucky curled up into a ball, eyes closed and hair in his face.  The music wasn’t loud, but she could still hear it.  Darcy leaned forward and brushed his bangs out of his face.

He opened his eyes.

[‘I can’t do well when I think you’re gonna leave me, but I know I try.’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HevFHRuLeTw)

Bucky’s eyes opened briefly and he smiled a little.  His breathing evened out and when the song ended, he remained still.  Forty-five minutes passed and turned into an hour and then two, but Darcy amused herself with the TV on mute and continued to let him sleep.  She glanced down at his face every now and then and felt…something.

She wanted to keep him far away from everything in the world that wanted to hurt him.  She knew she was ill-equipped to protect him, she had none of Steve’s strengths, or Clint and Natasha’s skills, or Tony’s intelligence.  She wasn’t an Avenger.  She wasn’t a spy or a hero.  And she missed Steve so much she wanted to cry.  She wanted him to know that Bucky was okay.  She wanted Bucky to be okay.

She wondered what Steve would say if he was there with them now.  She didn’t fall asleep, but she let her eyes drift closed for a few moments and imagined that he was there with them, sitting on the edge of the bed.  She half drifted off for a moment, imagining/dreaming that Steve was there with them.  He looked first at Bucky, and then at her, and smiled as he told her that he trusted her to protect Bucky.  To get him home.  

Darcy blinked rapidly, and ran her hands over her face.  She was going to get him home.

It was nearing midnight when he woke up and there was a tense expression on his face.  For a moment she thought he was annoyed that she hadn’t woken him, but he shifted to a crouch and his eyes were glued on the door.  He edged forward, moving slowly, and had just gotten his hand on the knife he’d left on the end table when the door was kicked in.

He shoved at Darcy with his metal hand, which sent her tumbling off the side of the bed and out of sight.  Bucky sprang off the bed, hit the ground with a roll, and came up in the intruder's face.  He got the gun out of the man’s hand, but the man drew a knife from his hip and they went at each other.  The other man was good, but Bucky was better, and he soon had his knife pressed against his opponent's jugular.  

“No, don’t!” Darcy shouted.

Bucky went still at her voice, but didn’t move.

“Okay,” he said after a minute.  “Okay.  I won’t.  But you have to go into the bathroom, okay?  Go in the bathroom and lock the door.”

“No,” Darcy said.  “Wait.”

“Don’t come any closer!” Bucky insisted.  He shifted his weight slightly and the other man head-butted him in the face.  Bucky allowed the momentum of the blow to send him backwards and he rolled landing on his knees with a gun in each hand.  The other man had also drawn another gun.  They were both still, guns aimed at each other.

“Darcy,” they said at the same time.

Darcy moved and Bucky shifted, standing slowly and keeping his body between her and the other man.

“Hey,” she said gently.  She placed a hand against his back.  “It’s okay.  That’s Clint.”

“Clint Barton.  Hawkeye,” he intoned.

“Yeah,” she said gently.  “He’s not Hydra.  Remember?  We agreed that he’s not Hydra.  He’s my friend.”

Clint stared at them, “Darcy, get away from him.”

“Clint-”

“He’s the one I told you about!”

“I know,” she said quietly.  “Clint, listen to me. I know exactly who he is.”

Clint exhaled sharply, “What has he done to you?”

“Nothing.  He protected me.  Didn’t your brother tell you?”

“He’s the Winter Soldier, Darcy!” Clint shouted.  “You cannot trust anything he says or does”

“I trust him.”

“Darcy,” he objected through gritted teeth, “Get away from him.  Now.”

“No.”

“Darcy,” he began.

“I’m not letting you take her from me,” Bucky growled.  “Back off!”

There was movement at the door and both Bucky and Clint turned, one gun still aimed at each other and another raised for the intruder.  Bucky didn’t waver, but both Darcy and Clint reacted.

Darcy let out a sound of surprise and Bucky felt her press herself against him.  The hand she had resting on his arm began to shake.  Clint let out a sound like he’d been punched.  His hands remained steady, but his face went white and he looked petrified.

“What?” he managed.

Bucky edged backwards, forcing Darcy further away from the door.  He had no idea who the second man was, but the atmosphere was tense and agitated.  Both Darcy and Clint were upset and that made him wary.

“Darcy?”

“That’s… that’s Phil Coulson,” she whispered.

“Phil Coulson died in the battle of New York.  He was killed by the alien invader, Loki.”

“SHIELD lies,” Darcy said quietly.  “Maybe he-“

“No,” Clint said roughly.  “Phil died.  I saw the body.  I was at the funeral.  He’s dead.  I don’t know what this is,” he admitted, “But it isn’t Phil Coulson.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in text link leads to the song on youtube

**Part Four**

“Clint…”  His voice was desperate, full of longing and regret.

“Shut up!” Clint shouted.

“Clint, I am Phil Coulson.”

It was not a comforting statement.  No one relaxed and they continued to stand in a strange triangle.  Bucky had a gun aimed at each of them, as did Clint, but the man who claimed to be Phil Coulson only aimed his weapon in the direction of the Winter Soldier.

“My team has been dispatched to free Ms. Lewis from the Winter Soldier before he can turn her over to Hydra,” he said gently.  His expression was pained,   “We’ve been conducting surveillance since we found them here.  Clint, I wasn’t expecting…I know that you must-”

“Shut up!” Clint repeated.

Bucky took another half step backwards, forcing Darcy to edge backwards with him.  He wanted as much space between her and the other two men as possible.

“Ms. Lewis-”

“I don’t talk to zombies!” she shouted from behind Bucky.

“I am not a zombie,” he objected, a little offended.  

“Phil Coulson died!” Darcy shouted.

“We don’t have time to discuss this right now.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Darcy shouted.

“Then go stand by Clint!” he replied, “But you need to get away from that man.  He’s not who he says he is.”

“Keep your mouth fucking shut,” Bucky spit at Coulson.

“I know who he is,” Darcy insisted.  “I know exactly who he is!  And I’m staying right where I am.”

“No,” Bucky said.  He didn’t want Darcy that far away from him, but there were too many guns aimed in their direction.  He’d take any bullet that went in their way, but he wasn’t wearing his armor and this wasn’t an ideal time for him to be less than fighting fit.  He cursed himself for letting his guard down, but it was hard to regret it.  He’d been curled at her side and she’d watched over him as he slept.  It probably hadn’t meant much to her beyond a kindness that seemed to be innate in her.  But to Bucky it was special.  She’d brushed his hair out of his face and he’d been comfortable enough to fall asleep.  She wasn’t afraid to be near him, she wasn’t afraid of him and she didn’t shrink away from his metal arm.  She was steadfast, but she was so gentle and it entranced him.  “I’m gonna lower my left hand,” he said quickly, indicating the hand that held the gun on Clint, “And you’re going to go over and stand behind Clint.”

“No.”

“Yes,” he insisted, briefly flummoxed by her refusal.  “There are too many guns pointed in this direction.  Go stand behind Clint.”

“No!”

“Do you have to argue with me about everything, woman?!” he demanded.  “Go over there.”

“No.  If I get within Clint’s reach-”

“I’m not going to let him take you away, but I’m also not going to let you stand here with two guns pointed in your direction and everyone freaking the fuck out.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she said, wrapping both of her arms around his chest.  She squeezed her arms around him, as though she somehow thought there was some possibility that he was going to try to push her away.  But there was no chance of that.

“Christ, I hope you do this shit with Steve and he gets a fucking taste of his own medicine,” Bucky growled.  He reached out with his leg, hooking his foot around the chair and kicking it in Coulson’s direction in a smooth, fast motion.  Coulson barely managed to duck in time, and Clint used the distraction to tackle him.  Coulson hit the ground hard, with a pained groan and they struggled over the gun.  Bucky grabbed Darcy’s shoes and a backpack, throwing both of them at her.  He shoved his feet into his own shoes and grabbed as many weapons as he could.

Clint had Coulson pinned on his stomach, but it was clearly a struggle to keep him there.  Coulson was fighting, but he was also pleading with Clint to let him go.  Clint’s expression got stonier with each plea.

“Clint,” Darcy said.

“He has an earpiece,” Clint called.  “He’s not alone.”

“We’re going,” Bucky replied.

“But Clint-”

“Hawkeye can take care of himself.  Darcy, we have to go,” Bucky replied.

“I can,” Clint promised Darcy, “I got this.  You have to go.  I don’t know who these people are.  But wait, Darcy,” he said in a rush.  “Why won’t you come home?  What the hell is going on?”

Bucky took the phone from his pocket and dropped it on the bed.  “Look at the photos.  That should be enough of an explaination.”

“Wait,” Clint said, he tilted his head, listening to the earpiece.  “His team is coming.  Go out the window in the bathroom.”

“Clint-” Darcy called as Bucky pulled her to the bathroom, “Tell Steve I’m okay!”

“I will!” he called.  “I promise.”

Bucky kicked the bathroom door shut and punched the window with his metal fist.  He cleared the glass and tossed the pair of bags through the window before climbing out.  He reached his arms back in and carefully pulled Darcy out.

He offered his hand and she accepted.  It seemed like that's just how it was between them; one of them always offering their hand and the other always accepting.  There was something easy about it.  Bucky knew, he felt that he was the worst of all wretches, but in that moment what he wanted more than anything was to keep her with him.  But it would be no kind of life for her, Bucky knew he was no good to anyone, and he had no right to wonder about such things.  He knew it was best to stick to his plan of leaving, no matter how tempted he was to imagine something different.

Together they moved forward into the woods behind the motel.  Darcy thought they would run, but Bucky was moving at a slightly brisk walk.

“We don’t have a car anymore.”

“I’ll jack one,” he murmured, unconcerned.

“Right.  Of course.”

“It’s a good skill to have.  Very practical.  I could teach you.”  She laughed a little and he felt some of his tension ease away.  A memory rose, unbidden, of stealing cars in Nazi Germany with Steve.  But instead of the usual hurt that accompanied such recollections, he just felt amusement.  “You hurt?” he asked, even though he knew she wasn’t.

“No.  You?”

“He’s quick, your friend,” Bucky admitted.  “He got a couple of punches in,” he sounded impressed, and not pained or angry, so Darcy didn’t worry about it.  “Tell me about Coulson.”

“That wasn’t Coulson.”

“I know.  But tell me about him anyway,” he said.

“I met him a couple of times.  First in New Mexico with Jane when Thor first came.  He actually arrested Thor and we had to make this fake ID to get him back from SHIELD and then Loki sent this metal thing to attack us.  Coulson told me that I was cool in a crisis and suggested I apply to SHIELD when I finished my degree.  Before DC, I used to wonder what would have happened if I had taken his advice.  But I guess I’m glad I didn’t.  But anyway, I kept in touch with him and Clint.  I followed Jane to New York because my post undergrad prospects were not looking super good and, honestly, Jane can barely remember to feed herself.  I spent more time with Clint, but I still saw Coulson sometimes.  He was a good guy.”

“LMD.”

“What?”

“He could be an LMD.  Life Model Decoy.”

“Yeah?”

Bucky nodded, “He could be an alien.  Or some kind of shapeshifter.  Maybe face changing technology.”

“Poor Clint.”  Darcy sighed, “He really fell apart after Coulson died.  Especially because Loki took control of him and made him lead the attack and when Coulson was killed, Clint blamed himself.”

“It’s hard to look at yourself in the mirror,” Bucky murmured, “Knowing you raised a hand against the one you loved, even if it was out of your control.”

“But what if it's really him?”

“Clint said he saw the body.”

“But what if what Clint saw was an LMD and that’s really Coulson?  What if he’s still alive?” Darcy said hopefully.

“Is Phil Coulson the kind of man who would leave his lover to blame himself for his death if he was really still alive the entire time?” Bucky wondered.

“No,” Darcy said quietly.  “He’d never do that.  Not willingly.”

“I’m sorry.  I know you want your friend to be alive.”

“I shouldn’t delude myself,” she admitted after a moment.  “Phil Coulson is dead.”

He shifted, putting an arm around her shoulders and tugging her closer, “I’m sorry, Darcy.”

“Clint is going to…” she sighed, “He’s not going to handle this well.”

“You and Clint are good friends?”

“Yeah.  Don’t tell anyone,” a hint of levity entered her voice, “But Clint is my favorite Avenger.”

“What?” he asked, in mock surprise, “Not Steve?”

“Steve is all kinds of amazing,” Darcy agreed, “But Clint is a human with a bow on a team of superheroes.  I mean he isn’t the only human anymore because of Sam- but Sam has the Falcon suit and Clint is just like arrow pew pew jump!  He’s been my favorite since the beginning.”  She sighed, “I wish he wasn’t alone right now.”

“He can handle himself.”

“I just mean, I don’t know, I wish I could have given him a hug or something.  He thought his lover was dead and then suddenly… I can’t even imagine.”  Darcy heard her own words echo around in her brain and bit her tongue.

“Yeah,” Bucky said lightly.  “I can’t imagine.”  

“Winter?”

“Yeah, doll?” he asked.

“How are we going to figure out who the mole is?”  He was quiet and Darcy stopped, “Wait.  Did you figure it out already?”  His silence was telling.  “How?”

“I don’t know for sure.  But I’ve got it down to two names.”

“How?” She demanded.  “Who?”

“It’s either Wanda Maximoff or Jasper Sitwell.”

“It’s Sitwell,” Darcy said.

“How do you know?”

“It’s Sitwell,” she repeated, “You’re sure the picture was taken on a cell phone?”

“I’m sure.”

“Then it’s Sitwell.  Wanda was trying to teach Lady Sif how to play Angry Birds at the party and Lady Sif accidentally crushed her cell phone.”

“It could have been before?”

“No, it got broken before Steve arrived,” she said, her voice small.  “It’s him.  The only other people on the list I don’t know well enough to feel comfortable personally vouching for are Helen Cho and Melinda May.  But Helen Cho spent most of her time talking to Bruce Banner.  And Melinda May,” she shrugged, “I don’t know her, but she has quite the reputation.  People call her the Cavalry.”

“I’m familiar with the Cavalry,” he said.  “Or at least I’ve heard her spoken of.  It’s not her.”

“It could be Helen Cho?”

“Would you feel better if it was?” he asked gently.

“Not me,” she said quietly.  “Clint.”

Bucky sighed,  “We’ve been walking a while.  You doing okay?”

“I’m tired, but I can do it,” she said.  “What are we doing to do about Sitwell?”

“I’m going to kill him.”  He hesitated.  “Does that bother you?”

Darcy was quiet for a moment.  “No.”

“He’s at the New York branch?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed.  “You don’t want to capture him for information or something?”

“No, I just want to kill him,” Bucky admitted evenly.  “But,” he sighed.  “Fuck.”

“What?”

He shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh,” she said with quiet understanding.  “You think Steve would disapprove?”

“Do I think Steve Rogers himself would disapprove of me sniping this guy?” he laughed hollowly, “Yeah.  I think so.”

“And that thought bothers you?’

“Stupid, after everything I’ve done,” he admitted.  “But there it is.  I don’t want to be the bad guy.  Not when I finally have a say in my own actions.  But fuck, I also really want to kill him,” he let out a humorless laugh that Darcy hated.  “Funny.  I wanted so badly to be back in control of myself, and here I am, planning to murder someone.”

“You’re not the bad guy, Winter.  And Steve,” she cut herself off, surprised by the sharpness of her own tone.

“You mad at that punk about something?” Bucky asked.

Darcy sighed.

“Tell me?” he invited.  

“I don’t know if I’m mad at him.  Or maybe I don’t know if it's fair to be mad at him.  He hid a lot of stuff from me.”

“Maybe he just wanted to protect you?” Bucky suggested gently.  It wasn’t an impulse he found difficult to understand.

She huffed a little, “Yeah.  Maybe.  Probably.  But maybe I don’t want to be protected.”

“You run around with superheroes, Darcy.  Your safety is going to be a concern,” he said gently.  “It isn’t that they think you incapable, but you can’t expect to be able to protect yourself in the same way that Steve protects himself.”

“Maybe I want to be a part of it, at least.  Consulted.  Or involved.  More like a partner and less like errant child,” she said tightly.  

“I see,” he said.  “Tell him that.  Next time you see Steve, just tell him you don’t like being kept in the dark.  Tell him,” Bucky hesitated briefly, “Tell him it ain’t a matter of strength.  It’s a matter of principle.”

Darcy wanted so badly to ask Bucky if he had once said something similar to Steve, and though the question burned her in mouth, she kept it to herself.  She wasn’t quite sure how to tell him that she knew who he was.  He hadn’t shared the information and she was reluctant to broach the subject without having some kind of an idea on why he was uncomfortable.  Maybe it was because of Steve.  Maybe he felt it was too much to admit that he’d been with Steve to someone he maybe saw as his replacement.  Or maybe he still thought he was going to disappear after this was over.

If he still thought that, he was going to be in for a surprise.  Darcy hadn’t changed her mind.  It hurt, feeling herself being squeezed out of a future she’d wanted with Steve, but it was built on a lie.  Steve had only ever looked at her because he thought Bucky was dead.  What right did she have to stand in between them?  Neither of them was over the other.

“I’ll try,” she tentatively agreed.

He smiled, “Good.”

They came out of the woods as the sun was coming up.  Bucky broke into and hot-wired a car.  He talked quietly as he was doing it, his motions slow and exaggerated to show Darcy what he was doing.  He checked their supplies briefly and was glad to see that they hadn’t lost all of the grenades he’d taken from Barney.  Darcy wanted to drive, as they’d agreed, but Bucky persuaded her to sleep until they stopped for lunch and then switch.  Bucky didn’t sleep very long after lunch, but he seemed refreshed when he woke, so Darcy didn’t comment.  He bought a disposable phone at a convenience store when they stopped for dinner.  They sat on the hood of the car outside the diner and Bucky handed her the phone.

“You know his number?”

“Steve’s?”

Bucky nodded.

“Yeah,” she said carefully.

“Call him.”

“But…”

“We’re going back to New York.  You know who the mole is.  You can go home.” He didn’t particularly comfortable with his own words, but he nodded decisively.  

“And you?” she demanded.

“I told you,” he said quietly.  “I don’t belong.”

“And if I disagree?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“You wouldn’t.  If you knew everything, you wouldn’t.  You’d want me gone.”

She opened her mouth to argue with him, but abruptly picked another strategy.  “I picked another song for you.”

He met her gaze and smiled a little, “Really?”

She nodded and handed him the earbuds.

“Right now?” he asked in surprise.

She nodded again.

As the song started, she closed her eyes and listened to the mashed up beats of Blur and MIA.  It maybe wasn’t the best way, but it was all she could think of.  Right as the line was coming, she opened her eyes and turned to look at his face.

[‘What you want?  Bucky done gun.’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moPluOtf6vY)

His eyes widened and he turned to stare at her.

_ ‘What you want?  Bucky done gun.’ _

“Oh god.”  He pulled the earbuds out with a quick, panicked tug.  The song continued to play and he sat there.  “No.”

“Hey,” she said gently.

“No,” he shied away when her hands reached for him, his expression utterly horrified.  “No, no, no, no.”

“It’s okay.”

“No,” he denied.

A muted version of the song continued to spill from the earbuds.   _ ‘What you want?  Bucky done gun.’ _

Bucky winced badly and pushed the iPod off his leg.  He shuffled backwards on the hood of the car.  “I didn’t- I swear I just wanted to stop them from taking you.  I swear.”

“I know,” she said gently.

“I’m gonna get you back to Steve.  I promise.  I’m not- this isn’t-“

“It’s okay.  I promise.  It’s okay.  We’re okay.”

He shook his head, “I didn’t want you to know.”

“I know,” she said.  “But it wasn’t fair that you didn’t know I figured it out anyway.  I wanted to be honest with you.  And I wanted you to know that I knew who you were- that I knew everything, when I said that I don’t want you gone.”

“I didn’t want you to know.”

“I know.”

He brought his knees to his chest, “I’m not a threat to you.  Not in any way.”

“I never thought you were,” she said.  “Listen.”

“Darcy.”

“Please,” she said.  “Just listen, okay?”

“I’m listening,” he mumbled.  

“None of this is your fault.  You haven’t done anything wrong.”  She swallowed thickly.  “Everything you’ve done… Bucky, I-”

He flinched and she stilled.

“I’m sorry.  Do you want me to keep calling you Winter?”

“No,” he said after a moment.  “It's just… I haven’t been called that in a long time.  But you can- you can call me Bucky.”

“Bucky.”

He turned to look at her.

“I think you’re amazing.”

His mouth opened a little.  She extended her hand, but didn’t actually touch him.  After a moment he leaned forward and took her hand, holding it between his own.

“How did you figure it out?”

“There were a lot of little things,” she admitted.  “But it was when you said that they might try to trade me for you.  It didn’t make any sense to me, unless they thought maybe Steve was hiding you.  But why would he do that?  You were brainwashed, so I can understand him trying to help you, but it didn’t make sense that he would keep it a secret.  Plus he said something to me before he left, something about how it was more complicated than just an assassination attempt.  He said he should have told me who you were.  Then I remembered that I saw a photo of you once.  And then I just knew.  It was insane, but I knew who you were.”

“You saw a photo of me once?”

Darcy nodded, “Steve has a box… he showed me some of the stuff in it.  There’s a photo of you.”

Bucky looked away.

“It’s the only time he’s ever talked about you.  I asked- I shouldn’t have but I was so curious about him and what his life was like that I asked.”

“Yeah?”

Darcy swallowed thickly, “He told me.”

“But?”

“But he cried the entire time,” she murmured.

“Fuck,” Bucky whispered.  He shook his head suddenly, “There’s no point in delaying.  Call him.”

“Bucky,” she lifted the phone and offered it to him, “Maybe you should call him.”

“No.”

Darcy hesitated briefly, but dialed the phone.  She let it ring once before putting it on speaker and letting it rest on her thigh.

“Rogers.”

She swallowed thickly, “Steve?”

“Darcy??”

“Yeah.”

“Darcy, where-“

“Don’t bother trying to track this phone.  It won’t work.”

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know actually,” she said after a minute.  “Somewhere in Maine, I guess.”

“Okay.  Okay.  Are you safe?”

“Safeish?” she replied.  “No one's pointing a gun at me, so I count that as a win.  Or at least an improvement.”  

“Are you alone?”

Bucky shot her a wide-eyed look.

“No.”

“Who are you with?” his voice trembled.  

Bucky shook his head.

“You’ve spoken to Barney and Clint I presume?”

“Yeah,” he admitted quietly.

“Then I think you already know who I’m with.”

His voice was nearly inaudible, “You’re with Bucky.”

“Yeah.”

He took a deep breath.  “May I speak with him please?”

Darcy lifted the phone and offered it to Bucky, but he shook his head.

“Sorry,” she said after a moment.

“Please,” he begged.  “Please, Darcy.  Please let me talk to him.”

“I wouldn’t… I swear, I’m not,” she said in a rush, “He won’t take the phone, Steve.”

“Can he hear me?”

Bucky threw himself off the car and hit the ground.

“Bucky!” Darcy objected.  “What the hell??  Hey!” she called as he pushed himself upright.  He crossed the parking lot at a jog, stopping under a streetlight.  He stayed there, his back to her, leaning against the pole

“What happened?”

“He could hear you.  But I’m not sure if he can anymore.  He took off.”

“He left?”

“No, I can still see him,” she said.  “He’s okay, he’s just upset.”

Steve took a ragged breath, “I should have told you.  I know I should have told you.”

“Yeah,” she agreed.

“You’re angry?”

“I don’t know what I am,” she admitted.  “I’m worried.”

“Bucky won’t- he would never-”

“The first thing Bucky did when we met was put himself between me and several bullets.  I’m worried about a lot of things,” she said, “But Bucky hurting me isn’t one of them.”  Darcy kept her eyes on Bucky and noticed that he’d turned back to face her, and it confirmed her suspicion that he could still hear her and Steve.  “He’s… I can see why he was so important to you, Steve.”

“God,” Steve managed,  “Darcy.”

“He’s,” she exhaled slowly.  “He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah,” Steve whispered.  “Why won’t you tell me where you are?  If you tell me where you are-”

“Yeah, I need to tell you some stuff,” Darcy said.  “But first, I need to know, is Clint okay?”

Steve let out a tired sigh, “He’s… he’s not hurt.  But it’s a giant cluster fuck.”

“He tell you there’s someone impersonating Phil Coulson?”

“No one is impersonating Phil Coulson.”

“But…”

“Yeah.  Agent Coulson is alive.”

“But.  But how?” Darcy managed.  

“Believe me, I’m interested in the answer to that as well.  But it’s been confirmed.  It’s really him.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed.  “Clint is with Nat and Sitwell-“

“No!”

“What?”

“You have to get him away from Sitwell.  Now, Steve.  Right now.”

“What?” Steve asked.  “Why?”

“There’s a mole.  Someone took a photo of us in the tower and gave it to Hydra.  That’s how they knew about us.  Bucky thinks that either they wanted to use me to hurt you or maybe they think you’re hiding him and were going to try to make a trade.”

“And you think it was Sitwell?” Steve asked.

“It happened the night of Clint’s birthday.  Bucky and I made a list and narrowed it down and we’re pretty sure that it’s Sitwell.”

“Please, tell me where you are.  I can come get both of you.  I won’t tell anyone.”

Bucky turned back towards her briefly and called across the parking lot, “Do not tell him where we are, Darcy!”

“Er, Bucky says no.”

“Put him on the phone.”

“I’m not sure-”

“I don’t care if you have to hit him in the face with the phone,” Steve said tightly.  “Make him take it.”

“You tell that stubborn punk I said that he should stop bossing you around and accept that he isn’t in charge of everything!” Bucky called.

Darcy rolled her eyes, “Bucky said no again.”

“That isn’t what I said!  Tell him the whole thing.”

“For fucks sake,” she grumbled.  “Steve, Bucky wants you to know that he thinks you’re a stubborn punk and you're too bossy.”

Steve inhaled sharply.

“Well, what’d he say?” Bucky demanded.

“Steve?” she said, gentling her tone.

“Well?” Bucky demanded.

Darcy put her hand over the speaker, “I- I think he’s crying.”

Bucky hesitated, but after a moment he moved back to the car.   Darcy hopped off the car and moved to stand beside him.  She slipped her free hand into his and held the phone between them.

His eyes were tightly closed and he was so tense his shoulders were almost up to his ears.

“Hey.  Steve, one sec, okay?” Darcy said gently.  She paused to mute the phone.  “Bucky?”

“I can’t.”

“You can.  You don’t have to, but you can,” she said gently.  “Hey,” she murmured.  “Come on.  Look at me?”

He blinked, opening his eyes, and met her gaze.

“You can,” she promised.  “I’m pretty sure you can do anything.”

He shook his head slowly, but there didn’t seem to be much meaning behind the movement.  “You look at me and, somehow, you don’t seem to see a monster.”

“Bucky, when I look at you I just see a man,” she said quietly.  “You aren’t what they did to you.  You’re a person.  A good person.”  

“Because I saved your life.”

She smiled, “Well.  Yes.  It certainly helped shape my opinion of you.”

“I was a person,” he said.  “Now I’m just…”

“Still a person,” she insisted.  “And you can do this.  But if you don’t want to, I will hang up this phone right now.  I promise.”

“You will?”

“Well, I’ll probably say goodbye to Steve first,” she amended.  “I don’t want to freak him out.”

“What does he want to talk to me for?” Bucky murmured.

“How about we find out?” Darcy offered.  Bucky’s eyes were still a little wide with panic, but he nodded.

“Steve, you’re on speaker.  Bucky is standing next to me.”

“Bucky??” Steve asked, relief and hope in his voice.

Bucky didn’t say anything.

“Darcy?” Steve asked.

“Yeah.  He can hear you.  He’s right here,” Darcy promised.  

“Bucky, please,” Steve whispered.  “Please just-“

“Hi,” Bucky croaked.  “I- Uh.  Hi.”

“Hi,” Steve echoed quietly.  “Please tell me where you are.”

“No.”

“I can come get you.  I’ll come alone.”

“No.”

“Buck,” Steve said gently.  “What are you going to do?  Just keep driving around forever?”

“I don’t know, just…”

“Bucky…”

“Shut up!” he hissed.

“Bucky,” Darcy murmured.  “It’s okay.”

“He doesn’t understand.  He has no idea.  These people are fucking everywhere.  Hydra is everywhere!  I can’t bring you back there.  Not while there is even a chance they can get to you.  What if Sitwell isn’t the only one?”

“The safest place-” Steve began.

“Nowhere is safe,” Bucky spat out.

“Please,” Steve said.  “Please.  We can do it your way.  You guys don’t have to come back here.  I’ll leave SHIELD, the Avengers, everyone… I’ll leave them out of it.  I won’t tell anyone.  Just let tell me where you are.  Please, Bucky.”

“They’ll follow you.  You’ll lead them to her.”

“I won’t,” Steve promised.  “I know how to travel undetected.”

“No!”

“Bucky, please calm down,” Darcy said.

“He never fucking listens!” Bucky spat.  

“I am listening to you!” Steve insisted.  “I’m listening to you telling me to just sit on my ass in New York while the two of you are on the run indefinitely and in danger and you won’t let me come and help you!  I should be there with you!”  

“Bucky,” Darcy began.  “He has a point.”

Bucky hesitated briefly, “I know you miss him…”

“Probably almost as much as you miss him,” Darcy said.

Steve made a sound like he’d been punched.

“No,” Bucky denied.

Darcy just looked at him.

“We can’t afford to be sentimental,” he objected.

“I don’t know about that,” Darcy disagreed.  “But I think at the very least that we can be honest.”

“I’m not going to let anything get in the way of keeping you safe from them,” Bucky said.  “They don’t get to have you.  They don’t get to do this again.”

“Steve can help-”

“Steve’s face is plastered all over America,” Bucky objected.  “He can’t exactly go on the run with us.”

“We can’t leave him behind,” Darcy objected.  “If you aren’t going to be content with Sitwell being removed, if that isn’t enough and you’re now planning for us to be in hiding long-term… we can’t leave him behind.”

“Darcy…”

“Steve, hold on,” Darcy said, muting the phone again.  “Bucky, I’m not leaving him.”

“I know that you love him, but that doesn’t mean…”

“It does mean!” Darcy objected, raising her voice a bit.  “Bucky, I don’t know how you can stand here and listen to his heart literally breaking, but I can’t.”

“This isn’t easy for me either,” Bucky disagreed.  “You and I, we can be inconspicuous.  Just a man and a woman passing through…nothing worth remembering.  But people know his face.  They know him.”

“I’m sorry,” Darcy said, “But if you’ve changed your mind about letting me go back to New York… I’m not going without Steve.”

“I’m sorry,” Bucky said in a small voice.  “I told you earlier I’d take you back to New York but…”

“You’re scared.”

“I’m terrified,” he agreed. “What if I’m wrong?  What if Sitwell isn’t the only one?  What if I let you go back and they hurt you or they kill you?”  He took a deep breath, “What if I let Steve come with us and they catch us.  They’d have all three of us.   Or maybe they’d just kill you and toss you aside like its nothing.  What if they get me back and I never escape again?  What if I never remember who I was?  God, I can’t even think about them getting Steve.  I don’t even know what they’d do to him,” Bucky said in a rush.  “What if they try to do to him what they did to me?  What if they just kill him?  What if-”

“Bucky, take a deep breath,” Darcy said sharply.  She waited until he’d taken a couple of breaths.  “We’re all scared and none of us know what to do.  Can we please be scared and freaked out and unsure together?” she asked.  “Let’s at least meet up with him,” she said.  “Just to talk.  Please, Bucky?  Please?”

“Unmute it,” he said.  He continued talking when she nodded to him. “Steve?”

“Bucky, tell me-”

“No, you listen to me!”

“Bucky-”

“NO!”

“Bucky,” Darcy whispered.

“Noon.  Day after tomorrow.  Place we met.”

“Wh-“

Bucky snatched the phone out of Darcy’s hand, threw it on the ground and broke it to pieces with a single stomp.  He shied away from Darcy at her look of disapproval.  

“Wow.  Okay,” she said after a minute.  “Okay.  How about we-“

“Fuck.”

“It’s okay,” she said.

“Shouldn’t have done that,” he admitted quietly, his eyes on the smashed pieces of the phone.  “But he… I just can’t.”  He looked up and met her gaze briefly, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.  How about we-”

“Can I hug you?” his voice was almost at a whisper as he asked, but he met her gaze evenly and there was such hurt in his face.

“Can you hug me?… yeah, course,” she replied in surprise.  She opened her arms, “C’mere.”

Bucky stepped into her embrace.  For a moment it was fairly loose, her arms around his middle and his around her shoulders.  He bowed his head to press his face against the top of her head.  She staggered briefly, but steadied herself and let him lean on her.  At some point he’d begun to cry.  It began as silent tears, but turned into body shaking sobs.  When he showed no signs of calming, Darcy caught his face in her hands.

“Oh, Bucky.”

“I’m sorry,” he gulped.  “I’m sorry.  I just need a minute.  I shouldn’t-”

“Yeah, you should,” she argued.  “It’s okay.  I promise.  So we’re gonna stand here, and you can do what you need to do for as long as you need to do it, okay?  You don’t need to be embarrassed to cry.  There’s nothing shameful about it.”

“This is my burden to bear,” he murmured.  “I’m being unfair.  You of all people…”

“No reason not to lean on someone else for a bit,” she countered.  She hesitated briefly, “This situation is unfair.  But you, Bucky, you’re not being unfair.”

“You think I should have talked to him.  He just wanted to talk to me and I couldn’t even give him that.  I just shouted at him.”

“Yeah,” Darcy admitted, “But that doesn’t matter.  It isn’t about what I think.”  She swallowed thickly, “And it isn’t about what Steve wants.  You get to choose for yourself, Bucky,” she whispered.  She met his gaze and tried to smile, “But shouting less might be a step in the right direction.”

“I get to choose for myself,” he murmured.  “Huh.  I remember everything, you know?  I remember my life.  I remembered the war.  I remembered falling.  I remembered them finding me.  Even the stuff they tried to make me forget, I remembered everything.  The stuff that wasn’t me, I sort of remember it more like a film I saw instead of something I did.  But I still remember.”

He leaned back against the car and they moved to sit down on the ground.  He shifted to rest his head against her shoulder.

“I’d give almost anything for a cigarette right now,” he said idly.  

“You smoke?”

He shrugged, “Sometimes.  You?”

“I have before, but I didn’t like it that much.”

“Sometimes I just liked to have it, you know?  There was something satisfying about having something to do with my hands.  I enjoyed the process of rolling it more than actually smoking it.”  He was quiet for a moment.  “It helped keep my mind off stuff I didn’t want to think about.”

“Yeah?” she asked quietly.

“That’s probably not healthy, right?  Just avoiding it.  It’s been easier not to think about it,” Bucky admitted.  “Sometimes I just don’t want to think about it.  But they’d probably like that,” he gave a hollow laugh.  “What use did I have for thinking?  I wasn’t even a person to them,” he whispered.  “Just a tool.  A machine,” he stretched his metal hand out and stared at it.  “It’s partly why I didn’t want you to know who I was.  I wanted to pretend, just for a while, that I was someone else.  That I didn’t have all of this pressing down on me.  Maybe I felt a little bit like Atlas, with the weight of two lives like the ones lead by Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier pressing down on my shoulders and not knowing where I stood in between them.  Maybe I wanted to be no one.”

“You aren’t no one,” she whispered.

“Being no one might be easier than being Bucky Barnes.  Or the Winter Soldier.  Whoever or whichever or whatever combination of those two I’ve become.  The Winter Soldier and Bucky Barnes,” he sighed, “They’re both such weighty names.  What if I don’t feel like either of them?  What if I’m just something, sort of in between both of them?”

“What if?” she said.  “I don’t understand.  Do you think there’s something wrong with that?”

“Isn’t there?”

“Not that I can see. You are who you say you are.  Not what other people call you.”

It was getting late.  But they remained there, on the ground and leaning against the car.  Neither of them was inclined to move.  Bucky kept his head on her shoulder and felt himself relax when she turned and rested her cheek on top of his head.  It was so easy to sit with her, to let her see him and see his uncertainty.  He felt like she’d seen all of his soft spots and somehow still managed to look at him without being disgusted.  For a moment he imagined that Steve was there too.  He wanted it and dreaded it.  But still, he let his imagination wander and he could also picture Steve sitting across from them.  He imagined that Steve was smiling a little, as he watched them, and told Bucky that he’d done the right thing by protecting Darcy.

But the idea that Steve would be proud of him made him feel bitter and his thoughts got twisted up about Steve.  Steve was probably furious with him.  The thought of standing before the man, of looking him in the face, was terrible.  If Steve really had been there, Bucky would have run away.  Or tried to hide behind Darcy.  Or maybe he’d just have shouted at him again.  He knew it made him a coward, but he just wanted to curl up and hide behind her.

“Tell me something.”

“What?” Darcy wondered.

“Anything.  I just wanna listen to your voice,” Bucky leaned his head back against the car and looked up at the dark sky.  “I just wanna think about something else for a while.”

“Well,” she stretched out the word as she thought, “Wanna hear the story about how I became Consul?”

Bucky turned to face her, “I would love to hear that story.”

“Okay.  So it all started because Thor wanted to take Jane back to Asgard to meet his parents and see his planet.  He’s basically mad for her and thinks she’s wonderful and amazing and wanted to show her off to his entire planet.  Jane was pretty anxious about the whole thing.  Understandable, right?  He’s the Prince of an entire planet.  It’s not your average meet the parents, you know?  Also, by all accounts the All Father can be super judgmental and she was terrified that he was going to hate her on sight and forbid Thor from seeing her.  And Jane is shy.  She’s a little bit insecure.   So she asked me to come with her and I agreed because she’s my friend but also because, hey, free trip to Asgard.  I mean we haven’t even made it to Mars, but I could go to Asgard!”

Bucky smiled.

“And Asgard is like this literally glistening planet.  It was amazing.  So we get there and of course everyone loves Jane. There’s a parade and she’s like this wildly popular sensation the entire planet can’t get enough of.  So I ended up having to do a lot less handholding than I thought I would.  I had a lot of free time, so I ended up just sort of wandering around.  Asgardians can party like no ones business, but after like ten banquets I had to stop drinking or I was going to end up permanently hung over.  Asgardian mead is not for the faint of heart.  One afternoon when I was, possibly, not where I was supposed be, I met Queen Frigga.  Now imagine someone who is part Disney princess and part warrior Goddess, and you’ve basically got Frigga.  She-”

Blue and red lights distracted her, catching her attention as a police car pulled into the parking lot and stopped fairly close to their car.  Bucky tensed, but Darcy grabbed his arm.

“Don’t.”

Bucky met her gaze.

“This time it’s my turn to protect you.”

“Darcy,” he whispered.

“I trust you.  Now trust me,” she requested.

He nodded slowly.  “Okay.”

Darcy stood and brushed her hands across her pants, before moving to meet the officer in the space between their cars.

“Ma’am.  Car trouble?” he asked.

“Not exactly.”

“Got reports this car has been parked here awhile and the diner is long closed,” he peered around her to glance at Bucky, “Everything okay?”

“Well,” she said slowly.  “My boyfriend got overwhelmed.”

“Overwhelmed?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Darcy replied.  “He’s recently returned from overseas-”

“Ah,” understanding spread over his face.  “Army?”

“107 th ,” she replied.  “He was a POW and reintegrating has been rough on him,” she said quietly.  “I thought it best to just let him sit here with me until he was less upset.”

The officer nodded.  “I understand.”  But he hesitated and when Darcy followed his gaze, she realized he’d caught sight of the smashed cell phone.

“He’s-”

“I’m having some problems adjusting to my prosthetic.”  Bucky’s voice was quiet as he came to stand beside Darcy.  “I accidentally locked the keys in the car and when I went to call a friend for help, I squeezed the phone too hard.  It broke and I was upset.  I just needed to sit for bit.”   He hesitated briefly before offer his hand, “Sergeant James Barnes.”

“Officer Rob Smith,” he shook his hand.  “Thank you for your service.”

“This is Darcy.”

“Ma’am,” Officer Smith shook her hand as well.  His attention went back to Bucky’s arm, “That’s amazing.  I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“I’m something of a guinea pig,” he said.  

Officer Smith smiled, “It’s amazing, the kinds of stuff they can do these days.  How about we see if I can pop the lock and get you out of here without having to wait for AAA?”

“That would be great,” Darcy said with a smile.  “Thank you so much.”

He returned to car his briefly before moving to stand at the driver's side window.  He popped the lock easily and opened the door.  Bucky slid into the seat and leaned over to the middle console.  

“Find the keys?” Officer Smith asked.

“Yeah, in the cup holder,” Bucky said.  He stepped out of the car, “Thanks for the help.”

Officer Smith smiled, “Happy to help.  Get home safely.”

“We will,” Darcy promised.

They left the parking lot with a final wave.  Bucky was quiet as he drove, but he didn’t seem uneasy.  He looked at her for a long moment before speaking.

“I wouldn’t have killed him.”  He glanced at her, worry flickering in his eyes briefly.  “If you did that because you thought I might…I don’t know what I would have done, but I wouldn’t have killed him.”

“I never thought you would,” Darcy replied.  “This doesn’t have to just be you protecting me.  We’re a team.”

A small smile spread across his features, “Okay.”

She returned the smile, “But I’m curious.”

“Bout what?”

“You told him our real names?”

“I did.”

“And if that ends up on some police report?”

He shrugged, “I am James Barnes.  That’s my name.  I’m not gonna lie about it.”  

“And if Hydra sees that report?”

“Let them see it,” he said.  “Let them know that I’m not their puppet.  Let them be afraid of me for once.  By the way,” He side eyed her briefly, “The 107 th was deactivated in the early 1990’s.”

“Oops?” Darcy replied with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Bucky shook his head a little, “Something I’m curious about too.”

“What?” Darcy wondered.

“Why’d you tell him I was a POW?”

“Easiest to stick to something that was close to the truth.”

He looked at her, “Yeah, but I was a POW in the Second World War.”

“You were?” she asked in surprise.

“You didn’t know that?”

“I guess I must have.  The Howling Commandos were formed after Steve got you guys out of a Hydra prison.  I wasn’t thinking about that.”

Bucky frowned, “Then what you were talking about?”

She frowned a little, “I’m talking about whatever happened between when you fell off the train and DC.”

“I wasn’t…” his voice trailed off.

“Wasn’t what?”

“I guess I just never thought of it like that,” he murmured.  “That’s… 1944-2014.  That’s seventy years,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Darcy replied quietly.  

“When did Steve… what year did he…?” Bucky breathed the question.

“2009,” Darcy replied.

“Five years.”

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed.

“Typical.”

“What’s typical?”

Bucky smiled, but there was sadness in it, “Spent my whole life chasing that punk around, trying to keep him out of trouble.  He was a real firecracker, you know?  I could barely keep up with him.  Funny how with everything that's happened… Steve is still Steve.”

“And you’re still Bucky.”

It was a slow movement, but he nodded.  “Yeah, I am.”  He was quiet for a moment, “Darcy?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry.  I freaked out and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she said.

“I do.  It must have been frightening.”

“I wasn’t afraid.”

Bucky looked at her in surprise, “Really?”

“I told you, I’m not afraid of you.  I have no reason to be.  I was…”

“What?”

“Worried,” she said.  “I was worried about you.”

He glanced at her briefly and saw that she still wore that same worry on her face.

“What are you thinking?”

“That I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.  “Darcy, I don’t know what to do.”

She sighed, “I don’t know either.  I’m scared.”

He reached over and took one of her hands, “I’m scared too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE ABOUT THE MUSIC IN THIS CHAPTER:
> 
> Okay so the song linked in text is a mashup of MIA's Bucky done gun Blur's Song2 by Maxima. It's a pretty good mix, but it's not the one I was using when I wrote the story. I'm a bit grumps about it because the song actually inspired a good part of the story. Somehow it is in my iTunes and I cannot find it anywhere on the internet and I tried for almost an hour.
> 
> The song I want is Buckydoneblur remix by DJ Beware... but I can't find it anywhere! :(
> 
> But here's a link to the MIA song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LFdPVf1diw  
> And here is the Blur song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the false alarm- I posted the wrong chapter and then had to do a quick fix.
> 
> In text links lead to the song on youtube.

**Part 5**

It wasn’t exactly a short trip back to New York City, but it was doable in the time frame.  Wary of hotels, they slept in the car.  She’d given him [ another song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVqAdIMQZlk) to listen to, and he’d stared at the roof of the car as he listened to it.  Bucky put the backseat down and tried to make Darcy as comfortable as possible while he curled up in the front.  She tossed and turned a lot, but managed to drift off and get a reasonable amount of sleep.  They switched cars in Massachusetts and abandoned the car once the reached the city.

They stopped at an H&M to get new clothes.  Darcy wore a simple pair of soft, comfortable dark pants, a sturdy shirt and a loose sweater.  Bucky chose the clothes and it was only after they’d purchased them that she realized he’d chosen clothes he could easily conceal weapons in.  There was a taser and several knives that Bucky hid on her body.

“Comfortable?”

“I’m fine,” she promised.  

Bucky chose jeans and a sweater for himself and managed to conceal a truly ridiculous number of weapons on his body.  He still wore his glasses and he bought a beanie and dark gloves to wear as well.  According to Bucky, he’d first met Steve when the kid was getting punched around in an alley in Brooklyn.  The alley was still there, but they arrived several hours early and Bucky guided them to a small coffee shop across the street to scope it out and watch until Steve arrived.

Neither of them had any idea what they were going to do.

Darcy relaxed a little.  Bucky wasn’t overly tense, but his gaze was sharp and constantly moving.  He mechanically sipped the tea he’d ordered, but made no move on the muffin in front of him.  Darcy ate her croissant, and then his muffin too.  Eventually his fingers reached for it and he looked surprised to encounter an empty plate.

“Did you eat my muffin?” he demanded, amused outrage spreading across his face.

“Maybe.”

He stared at her.  Darcy grinned shamelessly, “I’ll get you another one.”

He smiled and jerked his head in the direction of the counter, “Go on then.”

Darcy let her thoughts wander as she waited in line.  She didn’t really have a plan on how to proceed.  She suspected that Bucky would either leave her with Steve, or insist on leaving New York again without Steve.  She had no intention of letting either of those things happen.  If New York wasn’t safe, she wasn’t leaving Steve behind.  And if it was, she wasn’t going to let Bucky run away from him.  She figured that if all else failed, she could always wrap herself around his leg and refuse to let go until he promised not to run off.  She hoped that just seeing Steve face to face would change his mind, but he was so wound up about Steve that Darcy was worried it would send his desire for flight into overdrive.  

For a moment she imagined herself clinging to his leg while Steve clung to his shoulders, but she pushed that thought out of her mind.  And with the possibility of the three of them going on the run together, she couldn’t help but idly imagine the three of them together.   

It was pretty unlikely that they’d be interested in a triad.  Such relationships weren’t exactly common, but Steve had been with Bucky first, and the mere thought of asking about it made her feel like an interloper.

Darcy was returning to the table when she caught sight of a dark haired man with a cup of coffee who seemed familiar.  Her heart leapt into her throat, but she took the seat across from Bucky and placed the muffin between them.

“I think we’ve been made.”

“Yeah, I saw her too.”

“Her?” Darcy asked in surprise.  “I meant the guy in the back.  Dark hair, dark shirt, bored face.  Who are you talking about?”

“Girl over there sipping a cup that’s been empty of coffee for almost half an hour,” Bucky replied.  

“What do we do?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“How about I cause a distraction and you run?”

He frowned, “How are you going to get away from them?”  His scowl deepened when she said nothing, “You wanna let them take you?  No way.”

“That guy looked familiar.  I think he’s SHIELD.”

“Fuck SHIELD,” Bucky hissed under his breath.  “We can’t trust them.  I see the guy you mean.  I can take him.”

“And the woman?” Darcy asked.

“Easily,” he replied.

She glanced up briefly, but quickly returned her gaze to Bucky’s face.  “Melinda May just walked in.”

He frowned a little, “And the man with her?  Do you recognize him?”

“I think that’s Antoine Triplett.”

“That name is familiar,” Bucky commented lowly.  

“His grandfather was a Howling Commando,” she replied.  “We can trust those two.”  She hesitated, “Well, we can trust that they aren’t Hydra. I don’t know what SHIELD’s position is on you.”

“Considering that coffee woman is palming a sedative, I have a pretty good guess.”  He met her gaze evenly; “I won’t let them take me to the fridge, Darcy.  I can’t.”

“I don’t know what that is,” she replied.  “But you’re not going anywhere you don’t want to go.  I’m not gonna just sit here and let them take you away.”

He nodded, “Okay.  And the other two?”

“I don’t know.  I only saw the guy briefly, but he’s familiar so he’s probably SHIELD.  Not sure about the woman pretending to drinking coffee.  I think you should let me-”

“I’m not leaving you with anyone but Steve.  No way,” Bucky said.

“Then what are we going to do?  We’re surrounded.”

“You know I would never hurt you?” he asked quietly.

“I know,” she agreed.  She rested her hand over his for a moment.  “I know that.”

“I wanna tell you something, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, her heart leaping into her throat.  Because she knew what this was.  It was a just in case, it was a goodbye in case they took him or killed him.  It was in case this was his last chance to talk to her.

“You told me that you think that everything I’ve done was amazing.  But the truth is, you’re the amazing one.  I knew before I ever even met you that I would like you.  Just knowing how Steve felt about you, I knew that I’d like you.  I knew you’d be special.  But I didn’t realize how truly wonderful you would be,” he said gently.  “I can’t tell you how happy I am that I got to meet you.  I know this has probably been the absolute worst week of your life,” he said softly, “But for me… The future was nothing but a nightmare until I met you.”

Darcy blinked and swallowed thickly, “I thought maybe you’d want me to tell Steve something.  Like that you love him.”

Bucky smiled softly, “That’s old news.  He knows that I love him.  But maybe you could tell him I’m sorry I shouted at him?”

“This sounds like a goodbye and that’s scaring me.  Bucky,” her voice lowered to a whisper.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go.  I don’t want you to go.  Please.  I know it’s not fair of me to ask, not after everything you’ve already done for me, but please.  Don’t leave me.”

He stared at her, his mouth opened in surprise.  There was a tightness in his stomach and he knew no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t go with her asking him to stay.  There was too much hope in her face for him to deny her.  “Wanna make a deal, doll?”

She tilted her head.

“You don’t try to make a distraction so I can escape without you and I promise that I won’t bolt the minute we find Steve.”

“Bucky…”

He held her gaze, “Do we have a deal?”

She nodded, “Yeah.  Deal.”

“Good,” he said.  “Brace yourself.”  That was the only warning he offered before he moved.  Bucky shot across the table, grabbing her shirt, and shoved her off to the side.  She hit the ground hard, but let the momentum behind his throw continue until she’d rolled away.  He threw himself over the table next to theirs, took the sedative from the female Agent who’d been pretending to drink coffee and shoved her.  He threw it on the ground and stomped on it.  The male SHIELD Agent and Melinda May reached Bucky roughly at the same time.  Darcy got her feet under her and moved to try to get the male SHIELD Agent in a side tackle, but Antoine Triplett caught her and yanked her away.

The coffee shop was briefly a mess of running and screaming customers, but they emptied out quickly.  Darcy tried to elbow Agent Triplett in the gut, but he sidestepped her.

“Calm down, Ms. Lewis!” he said.  “We’re here to rescue you from the Winter Soldier.”

He dragged her a little further away from the fight and the female SHIELD Agent joined them.  “You okay, Skye?” he asked.

“Fine,” the woman replied, eyeing Darcy.

“Good.  I’m going to help May and Ward.  Take Ms. Lewis out the back and-”

Darcy stomped down on his foot and managed to force herself out of his grasp.  She avoided Skye’s attempt to grab her as well.  She went for her taser, but Skye managed to knock it out of her hand.  Agent Triplett’s words sunk in as she moved and she realized that the male Agent was familiar.  Grant Ward, she’d seen his photo on this application for the exchange.  Ward got close enough to Bucky to sink a syringe into his neck, but he wasn’t able to empty it.  Bucky sent Agent May stumbling backwards and turned around to smash his face directly into Ward’s.

Darcy shoved Ward hard, sending him careening into a bunch of tables.  Bucky, using the gun he’d liberated from Skye, shot off several tranquilizing rounds until one struck Agent May in the thigh.  She wobbled and tried to continue forward before going down, hard.  Agent Triplett and Skye were just behind Darcy.  Triplett grabbed Darcy when she moved to kick a still down Ward in the stomach.  Bucky fisted his hand into the back of Triplett’s shirt and threw him across the shop.

Darcy didn’t know exactly how it happened, Ward had moved incredibly quickly, but somehow he got behind her and had her as a shield between himself and Bucky.  Bucky went completely still, his eyes pinned to Ward and Darcy, completing ignoring Skye and the gun she had trained on him.

“You hurt her, you die,” Bucky cautioned him.

“Stand down,” Ward commanded.

“I will break your fucking face if you don’t get your hands off her.”

“Stand down!”

“Let her go!”

“Stand down!”

“No,” Bucky growled.

“No one here means Ms. Lewis any harm,” Skye interjected.  Her gun was steady, but she looked confused as her gaze darted between Ward and Bucky.  “All we want to do is get her back home safely.  We’re just here to help her.”

“Get fucked,” Darcy advised her.  

“No one is going to hurt her,” Skye promised.  “We’re part of Phil Coulson’s team.”

“Phil Coulson,” Bucky said.  “Phil Coulson is a corpse.  He’s fucking dead!”

“Yeah, that’s a super weird story.  I’d be happy to tell you all about it, if you put down your gun.  We’re just here to help Ms. Lewis.”

“How can you possibly think that this is helping me?” Darcy demanded.  “I’m being used as a fucking human shield!”

Bucky kept his eyes pinned on Ward, but he was obviously listening to Skye.

“Put the gun down,” Skye said gently.  “We’re not going to hurt either of you.”

Bucky’s finger moved off the trigger.  Skye took a couple of steps closer.

“Put the gun down.”

“Let her go,” Bucky demanded.

“Ward,” Skye said sharply.

Ward released Darcy, or at least shifted so that he only held her by her elbow.  Bucky lowered his weapon, placed it on a nearby table, and kept still as Skye slowly approached him.  He kept still as she moved for his hands, a zip tie at the ready.  He waited until she was still before turning his attention to her.  Ward moved the minute Bucky looked away from him.  Bucky took hold of Skye and swung her around, using her as a shield.  She took several tranquilizers to the chest and slumped forward.  Bucky released her, a murderous gaze pinned on Ward.

He’d only taken a single step forward when Ward let loose a string of Russian that made him go still.  He looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut.  A blank expression spread across his face and he turned to face Ward.

“Orders?” he asked as he stood at attention.

“No,” Darcy whispered.  “Bucky?!”

“There we go,” Ward said after a moment.  “Okay.”  He met Bucky’s empty gaze evenly.  “Kill her.”

Darcy hit him in the side of the head with a ceramic plate.  Ward turned and hit her in the face, hard enough to send her stumbling back.  Bucky threw himself at Ward.  The man reared back, surprised, and Bucky got in several good hits before Ward was prepared.  Their fight was fierce, fast and dirty.  Darcy edged backwards to Agent Triplett and tried to take his gun.  She didn’t succeed, but while he was distracted she palmed his cell phone.

“Can’t let you do that,” the dazed Agent managed, keeping a hold of his weapon.  “Why are you helping him?”

“Why are you trying to hurt him?” she whispered back.

“Am I missing something?  He abducted you!  He’s a Hydra Agent.”

“He saved my life.  And he isn’t Hydra.  He never was.”

Triplett stared at her.

“Did you not hear him try to trigger Winter with a codeword?”

“You must have misheard.”

“I did not fucking mishear,” she hissed.  “If he hadn’t overcome his programming, he’d be in Ward’s control and I’d be dead!”

“What did-”

Agent Triplett and Darcy both startled badly when the sound of live ammunition reached them.  Darcy tried to get up, but Agent Triplett grabbed her and pulled her behind an overturned table.

“Stay down!”  Agent Triplett pushed her down as Bucky and Ward continued to shoot at each other, trying to cover her body with his.  

“He’s not who you think he is!” Darcy said

“I will listen to whatever it is you want to tell me, but not right now! Keep your head down,” Triplett shouted at her.

“Look at his face!  Just look at him!”

There was a sound at the entrance and Darcy and Agent Triplett both turned to see Phil Coulson coming in through the door.  For a moment Darcy felt a sharp surge of anger at the thought that he was an impostor.  The knowledge that he wasn’t actually an impostor, that he really was Phil Coulson, did little to settle her anger.  He took in the scene quickly and turned towards Bucky and Ward, his gun raised.

“NO!”

Darcy threw herself at Coulson and felt something hot flash across her stomach.  Darcy caught sight of shock on Coulson’s face when she threw herself between him and Bucky.  There was screaming, but it was sort of dulled.  She blinked a couple of times, surprised to realize that she was on the ground.  She noticed Agent Triplett beside her.

“Hey,” she slurred.  “Hey.”

He caught the hand she was waving in his direction and held it gently, “Darcy…”

“Look… look at his face, k?  You just gotta look at him and you’ll…”

Darcy felt herself drifting.

When she next opened her eyes, she was lying on her back in bed in a nondescript hotel room and a slightly wild looking Bucky was sitting beside the bed, both of his hands holding onto one of hers.  Something in his expression eased a little when she opened her eyes.

“Huh?  What?” she managed.  “We got away?”

“Do you know what a gut shot does to a person, Darcy?” he whispered.  She was fine.  He knew she was fine.  But there’d been a minute when he hadn’t known that, and the prospect of watching her possibly die, while in agony, had been staggering.

Darcy’s hands flew over her own stomach, but there was no wound, only a small bruise.  “I wasn’t shot.”

“I notice that you’re saying that with some surprise.  So you thought it was a gun with live rounds when you threw yourself in its path?”

“But it wasn’t?”

“They call it a Night-Night gun,” he said tightly.  “Heavy duty tranq.”

“So I just got tranquilized?”  

He nodded stiffly.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’ll heal,” he replied, his voice still tight.  “You’ve been out all day.  It’s nearly ten pm.”

“Where are we?”

“Upstate,” he replied.  “I boosted a car and just drove until it was dark.  What were you thinking?”

“Wasn’t,” she admitted.  “Not really.”  She shifted onto her side.  “Are you mad at me?”

“I think you took several years off my life,” he said.  “You were out before I got to you and I honestly thought you had… I thought you had maybe minutes left in your life.  I thought I would have to sit there with you while you died taking a bullet for me.”

“First day we met you took several bullets for me.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Why not?” she demanded.

“Because I heal!  I’m _extremely_ hard to kill.  But you aren’t!  If those had been real bullets…”

“Bucky,” she said gently.

“And because my life isn’t worth yours!  It ain’t worth shit, most especially not your life,” he shouted.  “If you had wasted your life for me-”

“It wouldn’t have been a waste!” she shouted.  “Don’t say that!  It’s not true.  Not even a little.”

“Damn it, Darcy,” he said, loud but no longer shouting.  “God dammit, Darcy!”  He ran his hands over his face and bunched them into his hair.  His voice lowered to an almost whisper.  “Damn it.”

She reached out and tentatively placed a hand on his knee, “What was that Russian thing Ward said?”

Bucky hands moved from his hair to rest over the hand on his knee, “It’s used to revert me to my most basic programming in the event that I become out of control mid-mission.”

“How the fuck did Ward know it?” Darcy asked in surprise.

“It’s not a secret,” he said.  “Not among upper level Hydra operatives.  I was, at times, volatile.  They needed a way to control me for their own safety.  It wasn’t... exactly... _unusual_ for me to kill my handlers.”

“But you managed to stop it?” she asked.  “I mean he told you to kill me, and you attacked him instead.”

“I didn’t ‘overcome’ it.  The mental conditioning is, I don’t know,” Bucky said.  “It’s gone.  It doesn’t work anymore.  He wasn’t the first to try it on me, but it hasn’t worked since DC.  Since I remembered everything.  I would never have let myself be around you if there was any chance that they could force me to hurt you.”

“You just pretended it worked.”

Bucky nodded, “I wanted to see what he would do.  I figured he’d just order me to go with him or return to a Hydra safe house.”

“But he ordered you to kill me.”

Bucky nodded, “Which makes me think that I’ve been completely wrong about what Hydra wants from you.”

“They want me dead,” Darcy said quietly.

“So it would appear.  But I don’t know why,” he admitted.  

“To hurt Steve?” Darcy suggested.

“Yeah, but…”

“But what?” Darcy asked when Bucky trailed off.

He looked at her face for a long moment and tried to think of the least frightening words to use in his explanation, “You’re more valuable to them alive, either as a hostage against Steve, or to be used to force a trade for something or to be,” his voice cracked, “To be brain washed and then sent back as a mole.  Outright assassination is… I don’t know.  It doesn’t fit.”  He stared at her, “Unless you were right.”

“About what?”

“Unless this isn’t about Steve at all,” he said slowly.  

“You mean when I said that maybe it was because of my job?”  She frowned, “I mean there are a lot of people interested in the Asgardians.  Maybe they think I know shit about their technology?”

“Maybe.  But I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged, “Just a feeling.  This is starting to feel personal.  Like you’ve done something to annoy them.  You said that SHIELD was being a pain in the ass about the exchanges.  How so, exactly?” he asked.

“Well they get to submit two candidates to go on the exchange.  I denied one of their candidates.”

“Who?”

Darcy’s mouth opened in surprise, “Shit.”

“What?”

“It was Grant Ward,” she said.  “The day they attacked me in my apartment, I had a meeting at SHIELD.  I basically told them that I wouldn’t change my mind about accepting Ward and that the Ambassador supported my decision.”

“Grant Ward was in the coffee shop.  He’s the one who said the activation phrase.  He’s the one who hit you,” Bucky said darkly.

“Yeah.”

“So we’ve uncovered a second Hydra mole in SHIELD,” he said.  “Why would Hydra so desperately want him to go on the exchange?”

“Maybe they want to try to make contact with the Asgardians?” Darcy offered.  “I don’t know.  They have no hope of forging any kind of relationship with Thor or Forseti.  Thor is an Avenger and Forseti basically told me to tell them to go fuck themselves.  Maybe they want to see if other Asgardians might be more receptive?”

Bucky sighed, “Maybe.  Shit.”

“What are we going to do?” Darcy asked in a small voice.  

“I’m not sure,” he admitted.

She was quiet for a minute, “How about a song?”

Some of the tension eased from his shoulders, “You know what.  I’d love a song.”

Darcy scooted over and Bucky moved to sit beside her on the bed.  She fished her iPod out of her pocket and offered Bucky only one of the earbuds.  He looked at her in confusion for a moment, but smiled when she put one of the buds in her own ear.  She started at song and shifted to watch his face as it played.

[ _‘And it leans on me, like a rootless… fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.’_ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25cO4K4kHpE)

He offered her back the earbud when the song was over, still smiling at her, “You’ve got eclectic taste.”

“Liked it?”

He nodded, “Yeah.  It was well suited to our mood, I think.  I’ve liked every song you’ve played for me so far.  But I also… I like that you play them for me.”

Darcy put her iPod back in her pocket, but stilled when her fingers brushed across something else.  “Oh.”

“Oh?”

Darcy removed the phone from her pocket and looked at Bucky, “I forgot.”

“What’s that?”

“That,” she said.  “Is Agent Triplett’s phone.”

Bucky’s eyes widened.

“It’s off,” she said.  She offered it to him.

He took and phone and turned it over in his hands, “You stole his phone.”

She shrugged, “I wanted his gun, but I figured we might find some use for the phone.  I turned it off and took out the battery so they couldn’t track it if they realized I took it.”

He smiled at her softly, “Smart.  I can make sure they can’t track it.”

She beamed at the comment, pleased and aware that her face was probably turning a little red.  Bucky turned on the phone and they were both quiet as he went through it.

“Hm.  Okay, I have a plan.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.  I’m gonna hide you somewhere.  Then I’m gonna go get Steve and bring him to you.”

“What?”

“If I can’t bring you to him, I’m gonna have to bring him to you.”

“Bucky,” she said gently, “You could barely talk to the man on the phone.  How’re you gonna do that?”

“Well I’m gonna kidnap him,” Bucky said simply.  “He’ll be difficult to go on the run with, but...” he shrugged.  “We can manage.  He can wear a baseball cap.”

“Kidnap him?” Darcy repeated in surprise.  “Okay.  Bucky,” she said with a sort of slow intentionality.  “You can’t just go kidnap Steve.”

“Sure I can.”

“Bucky.”

“Why not?” he demanded, a hint of petulance in his tone.  

“Because it’s a genuinely terrible idea?”

“Is not,” he insisted.  “I’ll get him when he’s out jogging.  Sedative to the neck and I can have him to you before he even wakes up.  Simple.”

“Right.  And where will I be while you’re off abducting our national icon?”

Bucky waved the phone, “The Triplett family has a lakeside cottage in Georgia.  We’re gonna hide you there.”

“Okay.  Back to the abduction plan.  Steve has guards following him constantly.  He’s not exactly inconspicuous.”

Bucky waved his hand impatiently, “I can handle them.”  

“Yeah.  I’m sure you can,” she agreed.  “What about Steve himself?  Can you handle him?”

“I’m not gonna hurt him,” he said defensively.

“But what if he fights you?”

“Sedative,” he said.  

“He burns through them pretty fast these days,” Darcy said.

“Hm,” Bucky grumbled.  “I’ll just keep re-sedating him until we meet up with you. Then you can talk to him and everything will be fine.”

“And we’re just gonna be on the run from Hydra forever?”

He scowled, “No.  I’ll hide you two somewhere.  I’ll go destroy Hydra and when I’m done you can both go back to New York.”

“Right, okay,” Darcy said.  “I see you’re, uh, feeling pretty confident about this plan.”

“It’s a good plan,” he said defensively.

“Ignoring the part about how you might find Hydra easier to destroy with some back up…you’re probably going to scare the shit out of Steve.  You want him to think you’re attacking him and then kidnapping him?”

Bucky went still.

“Hey,” she said gently.

He blinked a couple of times.

“Hey,” she repeated.  “I have an idea.  Two actually.  One you aren’t gonna like, but I’m still gonna offer.”

“Okay?  What’s the one I won’t like?” Bucky asked.

She watched him warily, “I think I can arrange to get you to Asgard.”

“To Asgard?  You mean leave the planet for a while?”

“It would probably be permanent,” she said gently.

“No.”

“You’d be safe.  None of them, not Hydra, not SHIELD, none of them would be able to get to you.”

“Would you come with me?”

She shook her head.

“Then no.  I appreciate it.  But I can’t.  Not while Hydra is still a threat.”

“I didn’t think you’d go for it,” she admitted, “But I wanted to ask.”

“Thank you.  What’s your other idea?”

“Yeah, it's kinda brash.  Maybe foolhardy.  Possibly a tad reckless.”

He tilted his head, his eyes bright with interest, “I like it already.  Tell me?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> links still lead to youtube.

**Part Six**

The Triplett vacation house was like something out of a magazine.  It was comfortable, smallish, but still cozy.  It was right on the lake, but situated in a way that it was still fairly shielded from the neighbors.  Breaking in was fairly easy.  Bucky picked the lock and then used some of the remaining stolen items from Barney Barton to make a security system around the property.  The first night there Bucky cooked dinner for Darcy and they spent the entire time avoiding talking about anything heavy.

“No way,” Darcy grinned at him, more attention focused on him than the plate of risotto before her.  “No way that really happened.”

“I swear,” Bucky said, his eyes bright.  “So everyone is looking for him.  Everywhere.  Kicking down doors, overturning stones, causing a huge ruckus.  Dum Dum was such a shit.  Hell, all of us were such shits,” Bucky admitted happily.

“Where’d you finally find him?”

“Passed out, half-naked, in a dilapidated barn two towns over.”

“Half-naked?  What happened to his clothes?”

“Dunno,” Bucky admitted, “But he somehow lost his shirt and one shoe while in pursuit.”

“And the cow?”

“Cow was in the barn too,” Bucky said.  “The farmer was so impressed that we had a place to sleep and a hot meal whenever we passed through.  He always made sure there was a bottle of beer waiting for Dum Dum.”

Darcy let her chin rest on the palm of her hand, leaning on the table a little.  She finished her food before it could get cold and though it was the best thing she’d eaten in days, she was far too distracted with watching Bucky looking happy and relaxed to really enjoy it.  There was something compelling about watching him while he was happy, and he somehow looked younger, and less encumbered.  

There was still light left after dinner, so they walked to the end of the dock and sat with their legs in the water.  It was cold, but neither of them moved.  Darcy fished the stolen phone out of her pocket and took a picture of the sunset over the water.

“You doing it now?” he asked quietly

“Yeah.”

“Can I see?”

She typed out the tweet and shifted so he could see the screen.

“On the run from maniacal Nazi’s,” Bucky read.  His voice was thick with incredulousness, “But look at that amazing view!  #SorrynotsorryIborrowedyourphoneandbrokeintoyourhouse.”

“It’s gonna work.”

Bucky shrugged, “And if it doesn’t, we’re prepared.”

Darcy turned her attention back to her phone, “I’ve got like a fucking trillion people tweeting at me at the official consulate Twitter.  What the fuck is that…”

“What?”

“#MissingAsgardianPrincess?!” Darcy demanded.  “What is this?”

“What is it?”

“Hold on,” Darcy waited for the link she’d clicked on to load.  “Oh for fucks sake,” she said.  “Apparently Thor is back on Earth.  He showed up in New York right after we left and basically deafened all of Brooklyn with his displeased shouting about his missing Shield Sister.  So now everyone knows I’m gone and my disappearance is trending on Twitter as #MissingAsgardianPrincess.  How is this my life?!  I can’t even with this shit.”

Bucky took one look at the annoyance on her face and, to be fair, he did make an effort to keep the laughter in.  But it spilled out of him wildly and he laughed until he could barely breathe.  He managed to rein it in, but the offense evident on her face set off another bout of wild laughter.  

“I’m sorry,” he managed, laughs quieting a little.  “I’m sorry, but your face.”

“You have no idea,” she said.  “You have no idea what dealing with Asgardians is like.  I mean it's hilarious, like truly hilarious.  First of all, not a one of them has any concept of what an inside voice is.”

“Yeah?”

“Try having a conversation with one of them-- 4 to 1 odds it turns into some sort of ballad recitation.”

Bucky grinned, “They sure sound lively.”

“#MissingAsgardianPrincess,” she sighed, “I am never going to live this down.”

“Nope,” he agreed easily.  He turned a little, to look at her.   [ “Do I get a song tonight?” ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y74UPiaK7u0)

“Sure,” Darcy said easily.  She pulled the iPod out of her pocket.  They reclined back on the docks, her head resting on his stomach, sharing the earbuds.  The tune was catchy and she ended up humming along with the refrain.

They watched the stars brighten as the night sky darkened and Bucky pointed out the constellations.  At one point he went back inside briefly, returning with two mugs of hot chocolate and a fleece blanket for Darcy.

There were still things he wanted to say, he wanted to ask her questions and listen to her talk just to hear her voice.  But the quiet was nice too, and there was a small smile on her face as she looked upwards, and he was loathe to disrupt that.  Instead he committed it to memory with as much detail as he could manage, as a moment to hang onto once he was alone again.  Whatever words he might be able to scrape together could never improve on what he already had in that moment.

There was such a sense of accomplishment in seeing her happy, in seeing her safe.  The tension and fear she’d carried around had eased since they’d arrived at the lake.  She let out a quiet sigh, but it wasn’t a sound of unhappiness.  She shifted a little, making an attempt to be economical in her movements.

“You asleep, Bucky?” she murmured softly.

“Nah,” he replied, copying her lowered voice.

“What are you thinking about?”

“You,” he said honestly.  “What are you thinking about?”

“You don’t need to be worried,” she said.  “I’m fine.  Everything is going to be fine.”

“Who said I was worried?  You gonna answer my question?”

“Yeah.  I was just thinking about you and Steve.”

“You don’t need to be worried,” he unthinkingly parroted her words.

“Who said I was worried?” she knowingly repeated his words.  

“Good.”  He said easily.  “This is almost like a vacation,” he said.  “I think I like it.”

“When was the last time you had a vacation?”

“Never.”

“Never?” she asked.  “What about before the War?”

“We were pretty okay when I was growing up.  We didn’t have a lot, but we had enough.  When Sarah Rogers died, Steve and I moved in together and things weren’t so easy.  Even when he wasn’t actually sick, he was never exactly real healthy.  He couldn’t always work and medicine was real hard to get a hold of sometimes.  And the treatments we could manage…” Bucky sighed, “Sometimes they just made things worse.  Back then people thought that asthma was psychosomatic and treated it with cigarettes.  Or sometimes with weed.”

“Seriously?” Darcy asked.

“Yeah.  I honestly don’t know how he survived,” Bucky said quietly.  “More than once I thought he was going to die.”  He was silent for a moment,  “But this one time I managed to save up enough to take him to Coney Island.  We spent the entire day there,” Bucky let out a fond sigh, “Of course Steve upchucked after we went on the Cyclone.  Still,” he said, “It was probably the best day of my life.  You ever been out to Coney Island?”

“Couple of times,” she said.

“I wonder if Steve’s gone since,” Bucky said.  “I bet it's real different.”

“He hasn’t.” Darcy said.  “I asked him once, but he said he couldn’t.  It reminded him too much of things that were long gone.”

“I’d probably have said the same if the situation had been reversed,” Bucky admitted.  “You should take a break when this is all over.  Go some place real nice,” he cleared his throat lightly, “Maybe with Steve.”

“We had this date tentatively planned,” Darcy said.  “Not a vacation, but a public date.  It would have been a big step for us.”

“What were you gonna do?”

“Dinner in the city and a show,” she said.  “I can be kind of a couch potato,” she admitted.  She paused a little when they phrase made Bucky laugh out loud.  “But every now and then I like to get real dressed up and go out, outside of my obligations as the Consul I mean.  I think it would have been fun.”

“Sounds like a real fun time,” Bucky agreed, “No reason you still can’t do it.”

“Yeah,” she replied.  “Maybe.”

Bucky frowned a little, pushing himself up on his elbows to look at her.  There was a strange sort of wistfulness in her voice that bothered him.  She seemed resigned.  But whatever he would have said was sidelined when she yawned.

“Tired?”

“A bit.”

Bucky stood and offered a hand to help her up.  They walked back to the house together, Darcy leaning on him a little.  She disappeared into one of the bedrooms with a sleepy smile and a quiet goodnight.  Bucky checked and rechecked the perimeter and then settled in to wait.  Even if he had been tired, it would have been impossible to sleep.  

Darcy woke with the sun the next morning.  She didn’t say anything when she found Bucky still awake, obviously not having slept, but her expression of disapproval bothered him.

“I don’t need much sleep.”

She sighed, but didn’t argue the point, “I’m gonna make breakfast.”

He nodded.  Bucky remained where he was, letting the sounds of Darcy puttering around in the kitchen wash over him.  She’d been in there for a while when the scent of pancakes reached him. When she called him for breakfast, he finally moved and went to join her in the dining room.  They were almost finished with breakfast when there was a beeping from Bucky’s pocket.

“Motion sensor was tripped,” he said.  He pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked to see which one.  “Driveway.”  He checked the monitor, “One vehicle, three people.  Wilson’s driving.”

“Okay.  So it’s probably Steve and maybe Agent Triplett?”

“Looks like,” Bucky replied.

Darcy moved towards the front door.  Bucky went with her.  Darcy opened the front door and stood in the doorway, but Bucky kept himself out of sight.  He kept still as the sound of the car approached.  There was the sound of doors opening and closing, followed by footsteps.

“Yeah,” Darcy said quietly.  “It’s Steve, Sam and Agent Triplett.”

“Go,” he whispered hoarsely.

She offered her hand.  “Together.”

Bucky shied away.

“Hey,” she said quietly.

“I can’t.  Darcy, I can’t.”

“But the plan,” she objected.

“That was never the plan,” he said.  “I was never going to… I told you that I can’t-  The objective was to get you to Steve.  That’s all.”

“We had a deal.”

“Darcy”-

“You made me a promise,” she said stubbornly.

“I need you to release me from it.”

Darcy met his gaze evenly, “No.”

“Darcy,” he whispered.  

“No.  Stay here, okay?”

“I-”

“Bucky,” she laid a hand on his arm.  “I’ll be right back.  And you’ll be here when I get back.  Yes?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

She hesitated for a moment later and took her iPod out of her pocket.  She handed him the earbuds and watched as he pressed them into his ears.  She took a moment to find  [ the right song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUe4sFKvJUY) before fleeing out the front door.

Steve, Sam and Agent Triplett were waiting by the car when she stepped out of the house.  Steve met her halfway and before she could even speak, he swept her into a hug that lifted her off her feet.  He made a sound like someone punched him as he held her.

“Darcy.”

She held tightly.  He kissed her once she was back on her feet.  Hands in her hair, his mouth moved over hers and stole her breath and all her thoughts away.

“I’m okay,” she promised.  “Really, I’m okay.”

He exhaled slowly and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Darcy turned a little to greet Sam, but her greeting turned into a laugh when he pulled her into a hug as well.  She went to shake hands with Agent Triplett, but he hugged her too.  He waved away her apology about the phone, laughing a little when she gave it back.

“Also, sorry I broke into your house?” she offered.

He shook his head, but grinned, “Don’t be.  It was actually pretty smart.”

“Thanks.”

“Darcy?” Steve whispered.  “Is…?”

“He’s here.  He’s a little edgy right now,” she said.  “So we’re gonna go inside to talk to him, but just us.  Okay?”

“Okay,” Steve agreed eagerly.

Sam put his hand on Steve’s arm, “Wait a sec.  What do you mean by edgy?”

“Not violent,” Darcy said.  “He’s not violent.”

“It could be trap,” Sam said warily.  “He’s…” he met Darcy’s gaze, “I know that he saved you, but last time he saw Steve he tried to kill him.  This whole thing could be some kind of set-up… admittedly convoluted... but still.”

“I don’t think so.  He doesn’t actually want to see Steve,” Darcy said quietly.

“What?” Steve whispered.

She met his gaze, but it was difficult.  “He doesn’t want to see you.  His plan was to get me back to you and leave.”

“But he hasn’t left?” Steve asked.

“I made him promise that he wouldn’t.  I made him promise that he’d talk to you before he left.”

“I don’t think you should go alone,” Sam advised.

“I’m gonna go alone,” Steve replied without waiting a beat.

“Of course you are,” Sam was resigned.  “Of  _ course _ you’re going in.  Alone.” 

“Not alone.  I’ll be there too,” Darcy said.

“Maaaaaaaaaaybe you should stay out here?” Sam suggested.

“No.  He didn’t go back on his word.  I’m not going back on mine.  Let’s go,” she started back towards the house without waiting for an answer or even looking to see if anyone was following her.  She went back into the house, Steve just behind her.  She huffed a little when she saw Bucky wasn’t exactly where she’d left him.  Darcy moved into the living and stopped.  Steve went to take a step forward, but Darcy stilled him with a hand on his arm.  She squeezed gently and mouthed for him to wait before crossing the room to where Bucky stood, his back to them.  The iPod was in his hand, headphones dangling from his fingers.

“Hey.”  She put a hand on his arm before moving to stand in front of him.

He met her gaze.

“It’s okay.”

He shook his head.

“It’s okay,” she repeated.

He swallowed thickly, “All these songs you’ve been playing for me.  You didn’t just pick songs you like.  You used them as a message.”

She nodded.

“And this last one…” his voice caught.  “It’s about me?”

She shook her head slowly.

“Then…?”

Darcy turned and glanced in Steve’s direction.  Bucky exhaled sharply.  “I have to talk to him,” he said slowly.

“You don’t have to do anything,” she said.  “I’m not going to make you and neither is he.  But maybe you should, Bucky,” she whispered.  “If you can.”

Bucky pressed the iPod back into her hands.  He waited just long enough for her to nod and offer an encouraging smile before he turned around.  Steve stood there, an unblinking gaze pinned on Bucky.  Steve took a small step forward, and then another, and kept going until he was standing in front of the other man.

“Bucky.”

“Steve.”

The names lingered between them, and as neither of them spoke again it seemed to stretch into an unending gulf.  Bucky’s shoulders rose with his tension and he fixed his gaze on Steve’s feet.  Steve kept his gaze pinned on Bucky’s face, but he swallowed thickly and seemed unable to actually make himself speak.  Watching them, Darcy felt like crying.

“Okay,” Bucky breathed out.  He shifted his weight backwards and took a small step away.  “Okay.”

“Bucky,” Steve rasped.  “Don’t…”

“There’s no other way for this to end.”

“Where are you gonna go?” Steve asked.  

“I got stuff that needs doing.”

“What stuff?” he inched forward a little.

Bucky inched backwards.  “Just stuff.”

“What stuff?” he asked again.

“Stuff that doesn’t concern you!”

“I think it does concern me.”

Bucky’s uncomfortable expression shifted into a scowl, “Can’t you ever just let something be?  Maybe you should mind your own damn business, Steve!”

“No.”  Steve said.  “Couldn’t then, still can’t now.  Besides, Hydra has always been my business.  But say you're right,” he continued.  “You go off and destroy Hydra by yourself.  It’s feasible,” he said easily.  “I really do think that you could burn them to the ground.  But then what?”

“Then nothing.  Then I’m done.”

“And what, you think that the world will just magically be done with you?  You think that with Hydra half destroyed that the world will just be done with overly ambitious asshole fascists who think they should be in charge?” Steve demanded.  “Do you have any idea how many people are looking for you?”

“Lots,” he said with a small shrug.

“Yeah,” Steve shouted.  “Everyone!  Everyone is fucking looking for you, Bucky!”

“Yeah and what are you gonna do about it?!” Bucky shouted back.  “You can’t shield me from everyone!”

He’d been edging backwards as he spoke.  The moment Bucky’s back hit the wall, Steve seized him by the shoulders.  “Yes, I can!” he roared.  “I can and I will.”

“No.”

“Bucky,” his voice was wounded and his hands shifted to cup Bucky’s shoulders.

“Don’t,” he said throatily.

“Don’t what?” Steve asked, ducking his head.  “Don’t try to protect you?  Don’t ask you to stay?  Don’t,” his voice caught, “Don’t touch you?”  His fingers tightened briefly, but his hands went lax and slipped off Bucky’s shoulders.  “I won’t…” he exhaled sharply.  “I won’t add to that.  I’m not gonna be just one more person doing things to you.  Just, please, don’t go.  I can’t.  Not again, Bucky.”

Bucky reared back and slammed his head into the wall.  Darcy clapped both of her hands over her mouth and though Steve looked unhappy, he didn’t look particularly frightened by the display.  It took Darcy a moment to realize that though he’d left a definite dent in the wall, Bucky wasn’t hurt at all.

“Bucky,” he whispered.  He moved slowly and when Bucky kept still, he wrapped his around him and held him.

Bucky was stiff and wide eyed, but he kept still and allowed the hug.  He didn’t relax as the embrace continued, but he shifted forward just enough to press his face into Steve’s shoulder.  Darcy took a couple of steps back, hoping to leave without disturbing them, but Bucky’s head turned to the side and he looked directly at her.  He loosely draped one of his arms around Steve’s shoulders, but held out one of his hands in Darcy’s direction.

Darcy’s feet seemed to move of their own accord and she joined them, taking the hand that Bucky offered.  She couldn’t do anything else.  Whenever he held out his hand to her, whenever he looked at her like that, she wasn’t going to be able to walk away.

“What if I don’t how know to be a person anymore?”  

Steve’s grip tightened at the question.  There was a long silence and Darcy could tell by his expression that he had no response to the question.  It had wounded him and he couldn’t think of anything to say.  Darcy couldn’t think of anything either, it was too heavy and too important.  There was too much riding on it, and she just couldn’t.  So she lapsed back into the advice that she always gave herself whenever she was worried about something.

“Fake it til you make it.”

Bucky blinked a couple of times, “Pretend until it becomes real?”

“More or less,” she said.  “And you’re not alone.”

“You’re not,” Steve promised.  “You’re not alone.”

Bucky met and kept Darcy’s gaze.

“You’re not,” she agreed.

It took a while, but eventually they managed to coax Bucky outside.  He kept himself a little behind Darcy and Steve, but they’d managed to extract a promise from him to return to New York together.  There were more people waiting for them outside and the minute her gaze landed on him, Darcy ran down the stairs.

“Clint!”

Clint grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, “Fuck, Darcy.  You scared me half to death.  You okay?”

She nodded, “I’m fine.”  She looked up at him, “How about you?  You okay?”

He laughed without humor, “Not at all.”

She hugged him again and would have said more, except Thor interjected himself into their embrace and pulled Darcy into his arms, “Shield Sister!”

“I’m okay,” she promised him.

“I am glad to see that you were not harmed,” he said gravely.  “Jane too will be most relieved.”

“She’s in New York?”

Thor nodded, “Indeed.  She and Forseti both.”

“Forseti left DC?”

“Indeed.  He returned to Asgard to summon my assistance in locating you.”  He was quiet for a moment, “Will you introduce me to your companion?”

“Formally?”

“Nay,” he replied.

“Thor this is James Barnes.  He goes by Bucky.”

Bucky eyed him nervously, “Hello.”

Thor pulled a startled Bucky into a hug, “My people will sing tales of your cunning and bravery!”

“Thank you?”

“And I personally thank you for the assistance you have given my Shield Sister.  The House of Odin shall owe you a boon.”

He started to deflect, but Darcy elbowed him and shook her head, so he simply replied, “Thank you?”

The rest of the Avengers were there as well, and Darcy hugged each of them.  Natasha held onto her arms for a moment.

“You’re really okay?”

She nodded.

The hug she received from Tony Stark was a little awkward.  He seemed edgy and a little uneasy, his gaze darting towards Bucky repeatedly.

“He isn’t the Winter Soldier anymore,” she said to him quietly.  “He doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Tony nodded, “Right.  Yeah.  Sure.  You guys planning to go to the Tower?”

“Is that okay?” she said.  “At least temporarily.”

“Sure, sure.  The more the merrier and all,” he said easily.

“I’ll start looking for a new apartment straight away,” she said.

He eyed her worriedly, “Darcy… Look…” he hesitated briefly, “I know that you said no when I offered before, but I think you should reconsider living in the Tower.”  He lowered his voice, “There’s plenty of space.  You can have your own apartment.”

“I appreciate the offer.”

“Please consider it,” he said.  “Seriously.  I was worried that Barton was going to stroke out if we didn’t find you soon.  And Steve,” he shook his head, “Cap was a complete mess.”

“I’ll seriously consider it,” she promised.  “Are you going to be okay with Bucky being there?”

“Yep,” he replied, obnoxiously popping the P.

“Thank you.”

He studied her, “You’re not worried about Cap?”

“I worry about Steve all the time,” she said quietly.  “But I’m not worried about Bucky.”

He frowned a little at her.

“Their story isn’t over yet,” she said quietly.

Sad understanding spread over his face and he nodded slowly, “I see.”

Agent Triplett hopped into another car and Bucky and Darcy got in the back seat of the car with Sam and Steve in the front.  At first Darcy thought they were going to drive all the way back to the New York, but they drove to the nearest private airport and took a plane to New York.  Bucky hesitated to get on the plane.  He wasn’t much a fan of confined spaces and the all but unblinking attention from the Avengers wasn’t helping.  But he was determined to see Darcy safely all the way back to New York and when she took his hand he found himself able to get on the plane.  And though he would never have admitted it in that moment, he wasn’t ready to be parted from Steve.  He didn’t exactly want to talk to him, but he wasn’t ready to give up being close to him.  Bucky knew there was nothing left between he and Steve, and he’d go without issue when the time came.  But that found himself wanting to put that off and he got on the plane to have just a little more time with Darcy and Steve both.

Darcy spent the first hour of the flight on the phone with Jane and Forseti.  Her attention was only half on the conversation as she watched Bucky and Steve play musical chairs around the plane.  

Once her phone call ended, she went and sat next to Clint.

“You’re accepting Secret Service Foreign Dignitary Protection,” he said the moment she sat down.

“Hey!” she objected.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” he advised.  “They’re already coordinating with Avengers Adjacent Security, and Sif and the Warriors Three to make a protection plan for both you and Ambassador Baldurson.”

Darcy huffed, “Forseti is accepting protection too?”

Clint nodded.

“Just so that I can’t refuse it?”

He shrugged a little, but his small smile told Darcy that she was right.  “I heard you tell Tony you’re gonna stay in the Tower for a while?”

She nodded.

“Good,” he said.  “We’ve had your apartment packed up.  All your stuff is already in Tower”

She swallowed thickly, “I can never go back to that place.  Kevin…”

Clint put a hand over hers, “I know.”

She was quiet for a long minute, “I’m not moving into the Tower long term.”

“Oh, but you are.”

She glowered at him, “Clint.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not moving into the Tower.”

“Says you.”

“You’re so fucking irritating.”

“Yep,” he agreed.

She rolled her eyes, “Okay, listen-”

“Nope, gotta piss,” he exclaimed.  He climbed over her and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Fucker.”  Darcy huffed.  She glanced out the window briefly and considered stealing the window seat while Clint was gone.  Before she could move, Bucky climbed over her and plopped down into Clint’s abandoned seat.

“Um, hi?”

Bucky shrank down in the seat, like he could somehow hide himself behind her.  Darcy looked up to see a morose looking Steve sitting next to the seat Bucky had been previously occupying.  Darcy met Sam’s gaze and the other man moved to sit beside Steve, taking hold of his arm when he moved to follow Bucky.

“Hey,” Darcy said gently.

He turned his face towards her, letting his hair fall into his face.

“Can I please just sit here with you for a minute?  Please?”

“Yeah,” she said.  “You can sit here for as long as you want.”

He nodded and shifted uncomfortable, his fingers twisting into the materials of his pants.

Darcy offered her iPod.  Bucky shoved the earbuds in and turned to rest his head against the window.  She queued up  [ a playlist ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHlf08yTPiU&list=PLGgYLyTdfP2cV9HFksGF1R7BTHf0UWGcp&index=18) for him and let him sit next to her, in silence, for the rest of the flight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Links will bring you to YouTube

**Part Seven**

Once they were back at the Tower apartment, Darcy lingered just long enough to greet Jane and Forseti before she let Steve guide her and Bucky to his apartment.  She promptly disappeared into the bathroom for a very long, very hot shower.  She stretched it out as long as she possibly could, before changing into a spare set of clothes she’d left at Steve’s and going back out into the living room. The situation she encountered made her sigh softly.  Bucky sat on the couch, his attention pinned to his own hands.  Steve was lingering in the doorway, his gaze glued to Bucky.  The silence was not comfortable.  After a moment of deliberation, she moved to stand beside Steve.

He straightened when he saw her, “Feeling better?

“Yeah, thanks.” 

“Good,” the smile he offered was small, but still genuine.  

“You two talk at all?”

He shook his head.

“He say anything?”

Steve shook his head again.

“Just a sec, okay?”  She waited long enough for Steve to nod before moving over to Bucky.  “Hey.”

His posture didn’t shift, but he glanced at her briefly out of the corner of his eye.  

“Bucky?”

He exhaled slowly.

“Do you think you can talk to Steve?”

He exhaled again, but nodded.  “Yeah.  I just- I just need a minute.”

He straightened when she placed her iPod on his leg, and looked up at her questioningly.  He hesitated, but after a moment nodded.  He pressed the earbuds into his ears and  [ Darcy turned on the song ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y5IK2t7NY0) .  She watched him for a moment, her fingers brushing his arm briefly, before moving back to Steve.

They turned to face each other, both leaning on the wall a little.  Steve ran his fingers over her cheek lightly, “Can you forgive me?”

“I forgive you,” she said gently.  “More than that, I understand.  I haven’t spent a lot of time with him, but I get it.  He’s really wonderful.”

“I’m so sorry, Darcy,” he whispered.

“I know.”  She caught his hand and held it between hers.  She exhaled slowly.

“But this is too much for you?”

“It isn’t about that.  Steve,” she said quietly.  “I know that you still love him.  He still loves you.  And you both deserve to be happy.”

He closed his eyes tightly.  “I must seem like the worst of all wretches to you.”

“No,” she promised.  “Not at all.  This isn’t anyone’s fault.  And I wouldn’t wish… I wouldn’t wish it differently.  You have a second chance with the love of your life, and that’s amazing.”

“I love you,” he whispered, blinking his eyes open.  “Everything that happened between us-”

“I know.  I know that you weren’t disingenuous.  And I love you too,” she whispered.  “But I know that it only happened because you thought he was gone.”

“Darcy,” he leaned forward and let his forehead press against hers.

“I’m not gonna make this hard for you.  I promise,” she said.

“But you’re leaving.”

“I’m in the way,” she whispered.  “I’d just be in the way.”

“No,” he said.  “You’re never in the way.  Don’t think that.”

She shook her head, but didn’t argue the point.  It was clear to her that she would be.  “Be good to each other?” she asked.  “Please?”

Steve nodded.  He pulled her to him, wrapped himself around her and held on for as long as he dared.

“Goodbye.”

Steve made a choking sound and turned away.  Darcy pressed a brief kiss to his cheek before heading for the door.  Her entire body felt weighed down, but she kept going forward.  This was what she’d wanted.  She’d gotten Bucky back to Steve.  Everything was going to be okay.  No matter how it hurt, it was for the best.  Her fingers closed around the doorknob and for the briefest moment she hesitated.

A hand closed around her arm closed around her arm.

“Where are you going?” Bucky demanded.

“I’m gonna go stay with Jane and Thor.”

Bucky tugged gently until she turned around.  The confusion on his face turned to anger, and he glanced from her and Steve.  “What did you say to her?” he demanded.

“I…” Steve began.  “I…”

“Steve didn’t say anything to me,” Darcy said gently.

“Then why are you leaving?” he demanded.  “Why?”  He glanced down at the iPod he still held in his hand.  “That was a goodbye-song.  Darcy, why?”

“You know why.”

“No.”

“Bucky.”

“No!” he said, but it was more denial than anger.

“Bucky,” she tried again.

He looked between her and Steve, “This is because of me.”

“No,” she tried.

He shook his head wildly, “Yes.  Yes it is.  I should have broken my promise.”

“No,” she denied. She took his hands, “Don’t say that.  You and Steve, you guys belong together.”

“Darcy.”

“I know that you love him still.”

“Me and Steve are the past.  I told you that.”  He took a shaky breath, “I told you- I promised you… I said that it wasn’t about this.  I was never trying to do this.”

“I never thought that you were,” she said.  “But this isn’t in the past for either of you.”

“Bucky,” Steve said gently.  He moved to join them, his hands going to Bucky’s upper arms.  “C’mon.”

“No.”

“Buck, you gotta… you gotta let her go,” he whispered.

“Because it's so easy?” he demanded.  “Should I just stand there, like you, and watch her leave?”

“You think this is easy?” Steve demanded.  “What should I do?” he raised his voice.  “What the fuck should I do, Bucky?”

“You should choose her!” Bucky shouted back.  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he demanded.  “You should choose her!”

“Bucky,” Darcy tried.  “Don’t say that to him.  Don’t ask him to do that.  It’s not fair.”

“None of this is fair,” Bucky retorted.  “This is exactly what I didn’t want to do- come back here and screw up the best thing that’s happened to him since he woke up.  And after everything you did for me,” he voice quieted, “I never wanted to do anything to cause you pain.”

“I know that.  You haven’t.  And neither has Steve.  None of this is anyone's fault,” she insisted.

“No,” he denied.  He shifted so that they stood facing each other, an angry glare pinned on Steve.  “I’m not gonna stay with you.  I’m not.  So don’t think that things are just gonna magically go back to the way they were between us.  It’s not gonna happen, pal.”

Steve kept quiet, but he looked like he’d been punched in the stomach.

“Stop it, Bucky,” Darcy said.

“Admit that you’ve moved on!  Admit things are different.  Admit that you want her!”

“Bucky!” Darcy objected.

“I can’t,” Steve whispered.  “I can’t.”

Darcy did try to hold back the tears.  Steve’s reply wasn’t a surprise.  Despite that she’d done her best to make sure he wouldn’t have to choose, she’d already known that he’d chosen Bucky.  Even so, just hearing the words was painful enough that she couldn’t hold in the tears any longer.  Bucky stared at her, wide eyed, his hands hovering in between them like he couldn’t figure out what to do with himself.  They all stood there for a moment, quiet except for Darcy’s crying, until Steve moved.  He shouldered past Bucky and took hold of Darcy and moved her towards the couch.

“Come on,” he said gently.  “Sit down for a minute.”

Darcy dropped into the corner of the couch and drew her knees to her chest to hide her face as she cried.

“Why are you being such an asshole?” Steve demanded of Bucky in a hissed whisper.

“Me?” Bucky demanded angrily.  “You’re the one throwing this away.”

“Look me in the face and repeat what you said to me.  Look me in the face and tell me that there isn’t anything between us,” he demanded.  “Say the words you’ve been skirting around.  Tell me that you don’t love me.”

“Steven,” Bucky cautioned angrily.  

“Say it.  Do it.  Come on.  Look me in the face and say it.  If it’s true, how hard can it be to just say it?”

“You are making a mistake,” Bucky said, but most of the anger had faded from his voice.  “This is a mistake.”

“I know what you  _ think  _ I should do,” he said quietly.  “But you don’t understand what you’re asking.”

“Yes, I do.” Bucky said, his anger softening.  “Steve.  I do.  You think this is easy for me?  You’re all I have left in this world.”

“Then why are you trying to so hard to run away from me?”

Bucky looked to Darcy.  Steve closed his eyes briefly.

“There’s nothing I want more in this world than to see you happy and settled,” Bucky whispered.  “You can have that.  She’s the best girl in the world and you can have that with her.  How am I supposed to watch you just give it up?”

“How could I ever be either of those things knowing you’re out there by yourself?” Steve asked.

“And how could I ever stay here with you knowing that I drove a wedge between you two?” Bucky countered.  

“Bucky,” Darcy said quietly.

“Yeah?” he whispered, his attention instantly going to her.

Darcy patted the spot on the couch beside her.  Bucky glanced at Steve briefly before moving to sit beside her.  She leaned on him a little and he automatically wound his arm around her shoulder.

“I understand what you’re doing.”

“Darcy, I-”

“Because I’m doing the exact same thing.  You say you couldn’t stay here knowing you’d drive a wedge between Steve and I?  Do you think that I could stay here knowing that I’d done the same with you two?”

Bucky’s mouth opened in surprise.

“Don’t be so hard on Steve.  I get it.  I get why he wouldn’t choose me.”

“What?” Steve demanded.

Darcy looked to him in surprise, “I understand why you wouldn’t choose me.”

“But I didn’t,” he objected.  “That’s not what I meant.”

“What?” Darcy asked in surprise.  

He shook his head.

“But you said-”

“I said I can’t,” he said.  “I said I can’t, and I can’t.  I can’t choose.  I can’t do it,” he turned his gaze back to Bucky, “Please don’t ask me to.  I can’t.  I never meant that I wouldn’t choose you,” he looked back to Darcy.  He folded himself to his knees, occupying the space on the floor before both of them.  “I meant that I couldn’t.  There’s no good option here.  Either way I lose someone that I…that I love.”  He met Bucky’s gaze, “I love her like I loved you.  Like I love you.  I can’t do it, Bucky.  It’s selfish, I know.  But I can’t.”

“I’m sorry,” the words ripped out of Bucky.  “I’m sorry.”  He turned to Darcy, “It doesn’t have to be you.  I can go.  I’ll go.”

She shook her head.

“I can,” he insisted.  “I’ll be okay.”

She shook her head again.

“I should be the one who leaves.  He doesn’t know what he wants.  He’s confused.  Maybe now he thinks that-”

“I know what I want!” Steve insisted.

“If you would just-” Bucky tried.

“Maybe I don’t want either of you to leave!” he shouted.

There was a very strained silence.  All of them, Steve included, seemed alarmed by his outburst.  Bucky’s eyes were wide, his mouth open a little, and he stared at Steve like he’d never seen him before.  But for Darcy, a tentative hope began to bloom.  She was the first to recover, the first of them to move on from surprise to hope.

“Are you suggesting something?” Darcy asked cautiously.  

“What?” Bucky asked.

Steve stared at her, wide eyed.  “I-  Yes.  I am.”

“What are you suggesting?” she asked quietly.

“That you stay here with us.”  He swallowed thickly, “That you stay here with us and be with us.  The three of use.  Together.”

“You can’t just say that, Steven!” Bucky shouted at him.  “What the hell is wrong with you?!  What the hell kind of disrespectful shit is coming out of your mouth!?”

“I know,” he whispered.  “I know, I’m sorry.”  He hunched over and lowered his face briefly.  But after a moment he seemed to steel himself and lifted his chin to Darcy.  “But I said it and I’m not gonna take it back.  Think about it...”

“You’re suggesting that the three of us…”

Steve nodded.

“You’re suggesting we stay together?  The three of us?” she asked quietly.

Steve swallowed thickly, “Yes.”

“No!” Bucky objected.

Darcy flinched at the shout, the little bit of hope that had entered her expression fleeing.  She leaned away from Bucky a little.

“You think I’m being an asshole?” he demanded of Steve, “You’re the one being an asshole.  How can you ask that of her?”

Steve tilted his head a little, “Of  _ her _ ?”

Bucky went still.

“Not of you, but of her?”

“Steven,” Bucky said warningly.

Steve blinked, his gaze darting between the two of them.  “You want her.”

“Stop it,” Bucky said.  “Stop it right now.”

“Why?” Steve asked.

“Don’t make me listen to her muddle through a polite rejection.  Or even worse.  Don’t make her think she owes me something or that she has to accept me to get you.  Maybe you see this as the best of all possible endings, but for me it would be the worst.”

“You want her.  I know you.  And I can tell you want her too,” Steve repeated.

“Is that true?” Darcy asked quietly.

“No,” Bucky denied.  

Darcy’s shoulders slumped, but Steve was undeterred, “Liar.”

“Steve,” Darcy said gently, “Please, don’t try to force this.”

“He wants you,” Steve said stubbornly.

“He said no.”

“He lied,” Steve said gently.  

“Maybe,” she admitted.  “But he said no.  And that’s okay.  He gets to say no if he wants to.”

“Darcy-”

“Wanting to fuck someone and wanting to be in a relationship are not the same thing,” she said sharply.

“Darcy-”

“You really think that's how I think of you?” Bucky demanded.

“How the hell would I know?” she retorted, “Since you seem determined to lie about it.”  She pushed herself to her feet.

“I’m the Winter Soldier!” he shouted, standing as well.  “I’m just this THING that they turned me into!”

The urge to interject himself into the conversation was strong, but Steve kept back and watched them face each other.

“Yeah.  And?” she demanded.  

“What do you mean, and?”

“I mean what’s your point?” 

“Do I really need to explain this to you?”

“Apparently,” she crossed her arms.

“I’m the Winter Solider,” he repeated.

“I know that,” she said tightly.  “What are you trying to say?”

“You don’t- He doesn’t-  Neither of you can understand!  He has no right to ask you to try to love something so fucking repulsive!  What the fuck is wrong with you,” he turned to Steve briefly, “It doesn’t-”  He closed his eyes for a moment, shoulders slumping.  “I’m a monster.  The things I’ve done- it's despicable and I’m not fit… I don’t deserve anything good!”

“That is not true.  Steve-”

“He knew me before this!  He knew me when I was me.  When I was worth something.  Before I became something out of a nightmare.  And he has no right to ask you to…. to ask you to,”  he shook his head, his hair flying around.  “I’m no good for you.”

“You listen to me, you stubborn jerk,” she said.  “Say no if you don’t want this.  You can say no.  No one will hold it against you.  But if you say no, say it for yourself.  Don’t say it for me.”

“I-”

“Say what you want.  Not what you think is best for me or for Steve.”  Her voice gentled, and she paused before asking:  “Bucky, what do you want?”

It took him a moment, obviously struggling within himself before he could answer. “Steve was right,” he admitted softly.  “I do want you.  Ever since… But you were wrong.  I don’t just want to,” he grimaced a little and found he couldn’t repeat her exact wording, “It isn’t just a sex thing.  You…  Everything about you is lovely.  You have such a big heart.”

“Don’t go putting me on a pedestal,” she replied softly. 

“I see you,” he said evenly.  “As you are.”

“Bucky?” she prompted gently when he was quiet for a moment.

“I am the Winter Soldier.  You can’t lie to me.  You can’t hide from me.   No one can.  I see people, I see them and I see through them and whatever fronts they put up.  I see you as you are.  You cared for me, because you were kind.  You were gentle.  You were protective.  You were so fucking stubborn.  How could I not care about you?  You were the first person who didn’t think of me as a monster.  You were kind to me.  You treated me like a person, like a friend.”  He took a deep breath, “But what we’re talking about…  It’s something different.  And I’m…” he shifted uncomfortable, his flesh hand briefly gripping his metal one briefly.  “Do you think you could ever want me like that?  Like you want someone when they are more than a friend… like the way you want a lover?”

She moved forward, stopping only when her bare toes touched the tip of his shoes.

“Yes.”

“Really?” he said shakily, surprised.  “Okay, okay... maybe we can-”

“I already want you like that, Bucky.  Maybe Steve said it first, but he wasn’t the only one to have thought about it.  I tried not to, but I thought about it.  The three of us,” she said.  “I thought about it.  Did you ever,” she swallowed thickly and moved even closer to him.  “Did you ever think about it?”

“Yes,” he admitted.  “I thought about it too.  But I never dared to hope that you might…  Darcy,” he whispered, one of his hands brushing along her jaw before cupping her face.  “Can I…?”

“Yeah.  Yes.  For the love of god, please-”

Bucky kissed her.  His free arm went to her waist and as he tugged her to his chest as they kissed.  He pressed kisses along her face, before going back to her mouth and kissing her deeply.  He drew back a little, both hands coming to cup her face.  She blinked up at him, dazed, but a slow smile spread over her features.  Bucky pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning to Steve and offering him a hand up.

He said nothing as he let Bucky pull him upright, but the look on his face was one of utter relief. Steve pulled them both into a fierce hug, Darcy partway sandwiched between the two of them.

“I think… I think this does work.  It could work,” he whispered after a moment.  “The three of us.”

“Steve?” Bucky whispered.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.  I love you.”

“I know,” Steve said gently.  He kept his arms wrapped around both of them.

After a while Darcy shifted between them and attempted to stifle a yawn.

“Tired?” Bucky asked.  He bent a little to brush his face over the top of her head.  She leaned back into him briefly, yawning again, and nodded.

“Yeah, but I’m good,” she said.  “I just need a coffee.”

“Or sleep,” Bucky retorted.

“Yeah, but we still need to talk.”

“There is nothing more that needs to be said so urgently it can’t wait until you’ve slept.  You look dead on your feet, Darcy,” Steve said.

She blinked up at him for a moment, “It can wait until the morning?”

Steve nodded, “Yeah.  Right, Buck?”

“Right,” he echoed.

“Steve?” she asked softly.

“Yeah?”

“Can I sleep here?”

He nodded hurriedly, “Yes.  My room’s kinda… just give me one sec.”  He crossed the room at a slow jog and disappeared into his bedroom.

Bucky kept Darcy in his arms, but turned her so they were face to face.

“Will you guys join me when you’re tired?”

He nodded.

She pressed upwards to leave a light kiss on his mouth, “Good night.”

“Good night,” he echoed softly, eyes following her as she crossed the room and disappeared into the bedroom.

Darcy smiled a little as she watched Steve hastily finish clearing a pile of clean laundry off the bed.  She undressed easily, snatching a soft t-shirt and a pair of shorts out of his pile.  She crawled into the bed and smiled up at him when he sat down next to her.

“We’re just gonna talk for a bit,” he promised.

“Doesn’t have to be just talk,” she said, letting her eyes drift closed.  “You don’t need to wait for me.”

“Darcy…”

“Honestly,” she said, “Now, later, whenever… you don’t need to wait for me. There’s no rush and you don’t have anything to prove to me.”

“You’re okay with this?”

“I love you,” she said.  “And Bucky…” she smiled a little.  “He’s special.  You weren’t the only one it was hard to say goodbye to, Steve.”

He nodded slowly, “You’re important to me.”

“I never thought I wasn’t,” she shifted onto her side and tugged down one of the spare pillows to curl around.  “You don’t need to reassure me.  I’m not going to feel left out.  I promise.  Do I need to be blunt about this?”

“No need,” he said.  “I follow you.”

“Good.  Then go out there and try to do more than just stare longingly at each other.  Go away and leave me to fall asleep imagining you putting your hands all over him.”

Steve huffed a laugh.  “Love you,” he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Love you too,” she said.  “Now for real, go away.”

Steve slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him and finding Bucky waiting for him on the couch.  Bucky frowned a little when Steve took the chair instead of sitting beside him, but he didn’t comment on it.

“Can we talk about what happened?” Steve asked hesitantly.

“With Darcy?” Bucky asked.

“No.  I mean what happened after the train.”

“Oh,” Bucky considered the question.  His immediately reaction was no, but he took a minute.  “We can have a short discussion about some of it.  But I’m not ready to tell you about all of it.”

“Okay,” Steve said.

“What is it you want to know?” Bucky asked, a hint of wariness in his voice.

“We never talked about what happened when you were a prisoner of Hydra.  During the war, I mean.” Steve said slowly.  “You never said much about what Zola did to you.”

“It was hazy,” Bucky said.  “But I do remember injections.  I think they were testing a serum out on the prisoners before using it on their own people.”

“A serum like the one Erskine made?”

Bucky shrugged, “Not exactly.  Despite his inflated sense of self, Zola was nowhere near as brilliant as Erskine.  But it’s probably pretty close.”

Steve nodded. “Can I assume you remember everything?  No major memory gaps?”

“I don’t want to talk about what happened when I was with Hydra.”

“I meant before.”

“I remember the war,” Bucky said.  “More so than I’d like, to be honest.”

“And before that?” Steve asked quietly.

“Everything,” Bucky confirmed.

“Okay.  And you’ll let me know when you want to talk about Hydra?”

“Might be never,” Bucky cautioned.

“That’s fine.  So long as you know that you can.”

Bucky nodded.

“Good,” he inhaled sharply, “Then there’s just one more thing I want to say.  I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For letting go.”

“For letting go of what?” Bucky asked in confusion.  “For moving on?  Don’t be.  You thought I was dead.  What, you think I wanted you to mourn me forever?”

“No, not that,” he said.  His voice caught, “I’m sorry about the train.”

Bucky’s eyes narrowed, “The train?  Steven.  Tell me you don’t think that was your fault.”

“It was though,” he objected. 

“Would this be the reason you crashed a plane into the ocean without trying to find some way to save yourself?” Bucky demanded.  “For fucks sake, Steve.  It wasn’t your fault.”

Steve braced his arms on his legs and stared over at Bucky, “Can you please just let me apologize?”

“No,” Bucky said sharply.  “That isn’t what I want from you.”

Steve blinked in surprise, “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to fucking sit next to me,” Bucky said.

Steve waffled briefly, but crossed the small space between the couch and the chair and sat down beside Bucky.

“Now what?  What do you want?”  He was quiet, his voice a little hoarse.  Despite that Darcy had said, he hesitated.  He wanted so badly to feel Bucky under his hands, but he couldn’t just fall back into the way things had been between them without a sign from him.

“Close your eyes.”

Steve closed his eyes.

Bucky pressed his hands to Steve’s thighs, pushing himself up enough that he could kiss him.  Steve let out a quiet, wanting moan.  Still he kept himself completely motionless and let Bucky control the kiss.  He leaned back when Bucky pushed, his hands fluttering over Bucky’s hips when the other man climbed on top of him.  Steve shifted abruptly, getting his hands under Bucky’s thighs so he could easily lift him when he stood.  Bucky’s hands went to his face and for a moment they just stared at each other.

They made it to the nearest wall, Bucky’s back pressed against it as Steve returned to kissing him.  He was completely disoriented from the kisses and Bucky’s hands trailing all over him.  He shifted his grip and once Bucky’s legs wrapped around his waist, Steve thrust against him.  They stumbled into the bathroom.  Steve stripped Bucky slowly, his hands wandering over his skin, until the other man was completely naked in front of him.  Bucky’s gaze darted nervously to his metal arm.

“I know it's not…” Bucky began.

Steve put his hand on the upper part of his metal arm, “Can you feel that?”

“Not in the same way as if it was my other arm, but yeah.  I have feeling in it.”

“Does it hurt?”

Bucky brushed his own fingers along the seam of flesh and metal, “No.”

“Is it okay to get it wet?”

In reply, Bucky stepped back into the shower and turned on the water.  He tested it with his right hand briefly before stepping under the spray and letting the warm water rush over him.  “Coming?”

Steve got rid of his clothes and joined him in the large shower, pressing him back against the tiled wall and kissing him.  His hands went to Bucky’s hips, gripping tight, and he gave him a long kiss that ended with a bite to his lower lip.  Bucky stared at him, panting and wanting.  Steve went down to his knees.  He kept his hands on Bucky’s hips, pinning him to the wall, and took him into his mouth.  Bucky arched his back, head tilted upwards, but Steve’s hands kept him mostly still.  When he was close, he brushed his fingers over the top of Steve’s head.

“Stevie,” he whispered.

Steve’s eyes flicked up to look at him briefly, but he kept going until Bucky was coming.  Even after his orgasm faded, Bucky was a trembling mess.  He stayed trapped between the wall and Steve’s body, meeting his gaze when Steve’s fingers began to comb through his wet hair.

“You… I can…” Bucky began.

“No,” Steve whispered  “It’s fine.  Stay just like that.  I want to look at you.”  He shifted just enough that he could take hold of himself.  His world narrowed down to the sounds of Bucky breathing, the expression on his face, the warmth of the water, and the feel of his own hand.  Bucky kissed him when he came, sucking on his lower lip as Steve gasped in pleasure. 

They lingered in the shower for a while longer, partly washing and partly just standing together.  Once they got out, Steve tossed Bucky a towel and disappeared into the bedroom briefly to find them both some clothes.  Bucky dressed slowly and hesitated once they were back in the living room.

“Maybe I should just take the couch.”

“There’s a guest bedroom if you want to sleep alone,” Steve said quietly.  “But only if you want.”

Bucky hesitated.

“It’s okay if you want to be alone.  But don’t go to the other room because you think you should.  We want you with us.  You belong with us.  What do you want?”

“I don’t want you be without you.  Either of you,” he said.

“Good.  Then come to bed.”

Bucky nodded, taking the hand Steve offered, and they moved to the bedroom.  Once there he stared at the bed in faint surprise, considering its large size compared to Darcy’s small one, it seemed improbable that she should be able to take up so much space.

“She’s not exactly a still sleeper,” Steve said quietly, but with amusement.

Darcy demonstrated the truth in his words by kicking one of her legs.

“I usually end up pinning her in her sleep,” he admitted.  “Her elbows are pretty sharp and they always seem to zone in on my kidneys.”

Bucky smiled a little, “We can put her between us?”

Steve nodded in agreement.  He climbed into the bed first and managed to maneuver Darcy.  She mumbled a little something when his hands first landed on her, but quieted when he murmured for her to go back to sleep.  Bucky took the other side of the bed, curling up to watch both Steve and Darcy.  Steve watched him back for a while, but he soon drifted off to sleep.

Though he was exhausted, Bucky kept himself awake to just look at the pair of them and marvel.  He’d fully expected to be alone, missing both of them fiercely.  Or perhaps on the run with them while being the odd man out.  Yet instead they were both before him, happy and whole, and so inviting that he couldn’t bear to turn away.  There was no need for him to keep guard over them while they slept and he enjoyed that.  He was still thinking of them when he fell asleep, warm and content.  It was a couple of hours later and he felt well rested when he woke.  His arms went around Darcy’s waist as she tried to shimmy out of bed.

“Where you off to?” he whispered.

She was receptive to his hold and curled against him, but only briefly.  “I’m too hot,” she replied.  “You two are like a pair of space heaters.  You can go back to sleep.”

“No, I’m good,” he replied.  He slipped his legs over the side of the bed and stood.  Darcy inched to the edge of the bed, following him, but instead of standing she jumped onto his back.  He caught her easily, glancing back briefly to make sure that Steve was still asleep, before leaving the bedroom.

He puttered around the kitchen quietly, locating a glass and finding some orange juice.  

“I want some too,” Darcy said after he’d taken a couple of sips.

“I can get you a glass?” Bucky offered.

“But then I’d have to get down,” she said mournfully.  

He huffed a laugh and rooted around until he found a straw. He dropped the straw into the glass and held it up so she could lean over his shoulder and drink.

“More?” he asked when the glass was empty.

“I’m good.  Can I ask you something?”

“Course,” he said.

“Did you have sex with Steve last night?”

He stilled briefly.

“There’s no wrong answer,” she promised.  “I just wanna know cause I wanna know,” she said quietly, her breath warm on the skin behind his ear.

“We had an encounter,” Bucky said after a moment.  “Does that bother you?”

“Nope.  Would it bother you if I had sex with Steve without you?”

“No,” he replied.

“Do you think it would bother Steve if we had sex without him?”

“Gotta ask him to be sure, but I doubt it,” Bucky said.  He turned around and once he got the counter under her, he turned in her arms so they could face each other.  He ran his hands over her thighs and looked at her.

“I didn’t mean right now,” she said quietly.

“I didn’t think you did,” he said.  “But I’m yours when you want me,” he promised lowly.  He leaned a little closer to her.  “Whenever you want me.”

She kissed him slowly, hands coming up to cup his cheeks.

“Darcy?” he whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” she wondered. 

“You supported me,” he said quietly.  He caught her hands and intertwined their fingers.  “But you didn’t push me.  You let me choose for myself, even when you didn’t agree with what I did.  Even when it hurt you to listen to me fight with Steve.”

Darcy squeezed his hands gently.

“You saved my life,” she said quietly.  

“And you convinced me to take mine back,” he said softly.  “So, thank you.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him quietly.  “This is how it should be.”

He nodded in agreement, face pressed into her neck.  One of his hands was pressed against her back and he moved his fingers to tangle in the ends of her hair. She fit perfectly against him, in his arms, and he wanted nothing more than what he had in that moment.

“Are you hungry?” he asked after a moment.  “I could make you breakfast.  It wouldn’t be fancy like those pancakes you made me, but I can do eggs and bacon and toast.” 

She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t usually like to eat right after I wake up.  What about you?”

“I’ll wait for Steve to wake up,” he said.  “Might be a while though.  Usually when he crashes like this, it's cause he hasn’t slept in days.  Idiot.”

“Maybe I can pop down to the Consulate for a bit then,” she said thoughtfully.

He hesitated briefly, “Can I come too?”

“Sure,” she smiled brightly, “You can see my office.  I just gotta change first.”

“Yeah, I should probably find some pants.”

Darcy kissed him briefly, before hopping off the counter and disappearing into the bathroom.  Bucky stared after her, fingers brushing against his own lips.  He located a pair of pants that would do and after a few minutes Darcy came out of the bathroom, changed into sweatpants and a worn t-shirt.  She took Bucky’s hand and led him to the elevator and pressed the button for the Consulate.  There was a quiet beep in the elevator and she pressed her hand against the scanner before it began to move.

Once she was there she dragged Bucky over to her desk, pointing out the knickknacks littering it.  Most of them seemed to be presents from Clint and Jane.  Bucky picked up a photo of her and Steve.  Unlike the other photo this one wasn’t a candid, and they were both grinning at the camera.

“Not bad, right?” she asked.

He nodded.  It took him a moment to realize she meant the office, not the photo.

“It’s just me for now,” she said.  “But it’ll expand.”

He made a sound of agreement, but his attention was focused on the photo, “You guys look happy.”

“What are you thinking about, over there?” she asked.

He tapped his finger against the frame, “Just wondering how I got so lucky with you two.”

She tilted her head to one side, smiling but also blushing a little, “I remember Steve saying something about you being a sweet talker.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked.  He moved around the desk and stepped closer to her, his arms resting on her shoulders.

Her smile widened as she looked up at him, “Yep.”

“Can’t trust a word that punk says,” he replied.  Two of his finger slipped under her chin and her tilted her head up and brushed his mouth against hers.

“You’re good at that too.”

“Good to know I meet with your approval.”

“Yeah?”

“I like pleasing you.  I like seeing you happy,” he whispered before he kissed her again.

Her smile was sunny and completely distracting.  Everything about her was distracting.

“Darcy?  Whoa!  Um, sorry?”

Bucky and Darcy both turned at the same time to see a sheepish looking Jane Foster hovering in the doorway.  He’d been so caught up in Darcy that he hadn’t noticed her arrival.  

“Hey, Jane,” Darcy said.

“I just wanted to check on you because you didn’t come over last night, but I can come back later?”

“No, no,” Darcy waved her in.  They hugged tightly. “You haven’t met Bucky yet, have you?”

“I have not,” she said slowly.  She eyed Bucky, but joined them.  Bucky shifted at little, managing to get himself mostly behind Darcy.  Jane was Darcy’s best friend.  And she was staring at him with an expression that was part alarm and part skepticism.  

“Jane Foster, James Barnes.”

“Hi.”

Bucky kept still, moving only when Darcy elbowed him.  “Bucky, please.  Nice to meet you, Dr. Foster.”

Jane nodded slowly and took the hand that Bucky offered, “You can call me Jane.”

He nodded.

“So you two…?”

“Jane!” Darcy objected.

Jane shrugged, “What?  I’m one of your best friends.  I have to make sure it isn’t like Stockholm or something.”

“Oh my god, Jane!” Darcy hissed.

“Soooo, where’s Steve?” Jane asked in a not at all casual voice.

“Oh, for fucks sake,” Darcy said.

“We left him in bed. He’s still sleeping,” Bucky said.

“You left him... in the bed... that the three of you slept in?” Jane questioned.  “Together?”

“Why is this happening to me?” Darcy demanded.

“Yes,” Bucky confirmed.

“Ohhhhhh,” Jane said slowly, her disapproval giving way to a smile.  “So, not Stockholm then?”

“No,” Darcy replied moodily.  “I do not have Stockholm Syndrome.  You know that Bucky didn’t actually kidnap me, right?  He helped me escape and hid me so Hydra couldn’t murder me.”

Jane shrugged, “Hey, be glad that I’m the one that came to find you.  Thor and Forseti wanted to come and there was some discussion of challenging Bucky to a duel.”

“What?” she asked in surprise.  “But yesterday Thor was all thanks for saving my Shield Sister.”

“True.  Actually, I think they both really like Bucky.  But that doesn’t mean that they won’t challenge him to duel if they think he stole you from Steve.”

“For fucks sake.  No,” Darcy pointed her finger at Jane, “No duels!”

“We appreciate your intervention,” Bucky said, and was mostly serious.  

“Doesn’t look like it will be necessary.”  She tilted her head a little and smiled, “Congratulations.  I’m happy for you three.”

“Thanks,” Darcy said easily.

Bucky, however, choked on his reply.  Jane approved and he couldn’t think of what to say to her.  He wasn’t used to approval.  He wasn’t expecting it.  If anything, he imagined that perhaps the others would tolerate him, but they’d probably still see him as an interloper.  They’d see him as someone who didn’t really belong.  They might respect his abilities and see value in his presence to keep Steve and Darcy safe, but he’d never expected approval.  And that it was given so easily and from a woman like Jane Foster was startling.  He imagined she’d think him a poor choice as a partner for her friend. Darcy looked up at him and he managed to force the word out, “Thank you.”

“I’ll see you guys later?”

Darcy nodded and Jane left with a little wave. 

“Are you okay?”

“She’s nice,” Bucky said.

“She is,” Darcy agreed.

“When she said she was happy for us, she was telling the truth.”

Darcy nodded, “She wouldn’t lie about that.”  She tilted her head, “Did you expect her to say something else?”

“Maybe,” Bucky said.  “I protected you and that earned me a measure of gratitude from the others.”

“But you thought they’d draw the line at you staying with us?”

Bucky shrugged.

“It won’t be like that,” Darcy promised.  “Maybe it won’t be easy, but the others… they aren’t going to hate you.”

They lingered in her office for a while longer, heading back to Steve’s apartment arm in arm.  Steve was awake when they arrived, reclined on the couch and still clad in what he’d worn to bed as he absentmindedly thumbed through a sketchpad.  He set it aside the moment the door opened and greeted them a smile.

“Hey you two.”

“Hey,” Darcy called back.  “We just went down to the Consulate for a bit.”

“Cool.” 

Bucky hovered in place briefly, torn between following Darcy to the kitchen and moving to sit with Steve.  He dithered long enough that Darcy came back and hip checked him, nudging him towards the couch.  He sat down on the other end and Darcy flopped down into the space between them.  She shoved her feet in Steve’s lap and rested her head on Bucky’s thigh.  Bucky rested his hand on her head for a moment before letting his fingers move through her hair.

“So nice,” Darcy mumbled.  

Steve smiled softly, watching the pair of them.

“Can we do something today?” She asked.

“Like what?” Steve wondered.

“Anything.  Something outside.  Bucky can wear his Clark Kent Hipster disguise.  Maybe we can go to the park.  Ohhh,” she grinned, “Yeah, let's go to the park.  There’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“What?” Steve asked.

Darcy grinned, “Tell you when we get there.”

Steve shrugged, “I don’t see why not.  Buck, what’s a Clark Kent Hipster disguise?”

“I think she means my glasses?” he said.  “Are you talking about Superman?  People still read that?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” she confirmed, “There are even movies.  We can watch them later.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed.  “Breakfast first.  But then we can go to the park.”

It took them a little longer to get out the door than Darcy had imagined.  Breakfast was fairly quick, but Darcy happened to be in the bedroom when Bucky was dressing and she stared at him with wide eyes.

“Bucky.”

“Yeah?” he called over his shoulder.

“That seems like an excessive number of weapons.  Five guns, seven knives and whatever that cheese cutter thingy is…?”

“It’s a garotte,” he replied.  “And your numbers are a little low.  It’s more like eight guns, plus assorted clips, and ten knives.”

“Bucky,” she said, crossing her arms, “That is too many of all of those things.”

“Guess you’re probably not gonna like my backpack full of grenades?”

“Bucky!”

He turned around, grinning, and darted forward to kiss her, “Just kidding about that part.  You got your knives and taser?”

“I have my taser,” she allowed, “And a Swiss Army Knife in my purse.”

“Not bad,” he said.  “How come you don’t carry a gun?”

She shrugged, “Because I’m not a solider or a superhero or a spy or anything like that?”

“You’re not a bad shot,” he said, tilting his head a little as he studied her.  “You got that guy in your apartment in the thigh, but you hesitated.  And you intentionally tried to aim for a nonlethal spot.”

“I don’t think I was really thinking about it that clearly,” she said.

“Darcy,” he said gently, “Are you afraid of guns?”

“No,” she said.  “But I don’t like them.  I don’t want one.”

“And you don’t want me to carry them?” he asked.

“No, it’s not that.  It’s just… Maybe we shouldn’t go,” she said after a minute.

“What?” he asked in surprise.  “Why not?”

“Because you’re afraid.”

“What makes you think I’m afraid?”

She gestured at him, “The fact that you’re gearing up to go to war?”

He exhaled slowly and took her hand, tugging her gently to sit on the bed beside him, “Look,” he said gently.  “There’s probably not going to be a point where I’m comfortable going out without being armed.”

“Because you think people are always going to be coming for you?”

“That,” he said, “And because I need to be able to protect you and Steve.  I can’t leave them all behind,” he said gently.  “But I could leave some of them behind.  If it would make you feel better.”

“No,” she said after a moment.  She seemed torn between surprise and laughter.  “You should take what you’re comfortable with.”

“You two ready?” Steve called.

“Coming!” Darcy replied.

“We okay?” he asked.

She nodded and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.  They met Steve at the doorway and he offered Bucky a pair of black gloves.  Bucky took them, holding them between his teeth briefly, while he pulled his hair up and donned what Darcy referred to as his Hipster glasses.  He shoved his hands in his gloves and looked up at them both with a smile.  “All set.”

Steve made an indistinct noise.

“I know, right?” Darcy agreed.

“What?” Bucky demanded.  “Do I look stupid or something?”

“Nope,” she replied.  “Hey, Steve, can you tell how many weapons Bucky has?”

“Hmm,” Steve made a show of studying him briefly, “I see seven guns, bunch of clips and eight knives.  A garotte, Bucky?  Really?”

“Eight guns, tens knives,” Bucky said.  “But not bad, punk.”

Steve shook his head, but he was smiling.  He lifted the case that contained his shield and they left the tower together.

“So, why did I need to bring the shield?”

“I thought we could use it to play Frisbee,” Darcy said.

Steve stared at her in slightly affronted surprise and Bucky burst out laughing.  When Steve glowered at him, Bucky just laughed harder.

“Please????”

“It’s a good skill to know,” Bucky said.  “It takes practice to be able to throw it accurately.  Could come in handy.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but agreed, “Fine.”

“Yes!” Darcy held out her hand to Bucky, who obligingly fist bumped her.  

The park was basically empty when they arrived.  Bucky sat himself on a bench and watched as Steve unpacked the shield.  He handed it to Darcy and she simply held it for a moment, testing out the straps and examining it from every angle.

“It’s lighter than I thought it would be.”

“Yeah, it surprised me too,” Steve stated.  “And actually, comparing it to a Frisbee is pretty accurate.  Okay, try holding it like this.  Yeah.  That’s good.  Okay.  I’m going to go there and you can throw it to me, okay?”

“Okay,” Darcy said.

Her first throw was fairly okay aim wise, but Steve had to run forward to catch it before it hit the ground.

“Not bad,” he said as he walked back to her and handed her the shield.  “Try putting a little more power in your throw.”

“Okay.”

She threw it again and Steve caught it easily, “Good job.”

She grinned and turned to wave to Bucky, “I threw it!”

“You’re doing better than Bucky did his first time,” Steve said.

Bucky stuck his tongue out at Steve.

“First time he tried to throw it to me in battle, he missed by a good twenty feet,” Steve said.

Bucky stood and made a show of bracing himself.  Steve flung at the shield at him and he caught it easily.

“Go long,” he advised, sending the shield back.  Steve shouted at him in surprise, but took off after the shield.  He had to make a rather impressive leap to catch it, but he still managed.  Darcy began to clap and Bucky bowed in her direction.  They formed a sort of triangle and took turns throwing the shield to each other.  Both of them were careful with Darcy, but tended to throw very aggressively with each other.

Darcy spotted an ice cream vendor at the other end of the park.  “Ohhh.  I want some.”

Steve took his wallet out of his pocket, clipped it to the back of the shield and tossed it to her.  Darcy unclipped the wallet and shoved it into her pocket.

“Chocolate?”

“Please,” he called back.

“Bucky?” she asked.

“Strawberry,” he requested.

She tossed the shield in his direction and went off towards the ice cream cart at a slow jog.    She ordered chocolate and strawberry for Bucky and Steve and was debating what she wanted for herself when she realized something was wrong.  She glanced towards Bucky and Steve just in time to see Steve catch the shield, spin, and fling it back to Bucky.  She turned to look at the man behind her.

“Ms. Lewis,” he said softly.  “I’m Agent Jackson.  I’m going to need you to come with me.  We need to debrief you about the incident with the Winter Soldier.”

Darcy punched him in the throat and took off running back towards Bucky and Steve.  “Bucky!”

Bucky stopped mid throw and only managed a single step towards her before he stopped.  A look of surprise passed over his face and he dropped to his knees.  He tipped sideways, letting go of the shield and ended up on the ground on his stomach.  There were men coming out of the woods around the park and while most of them went towards Steve, a couple moved towards Bucky.

“No!”  Darcy reached Bucky first, barely, and with a shout of warning tossed the shield back to Steve.  She rolled Bucky onto his back and shook his shoulders.  “Bucky!”

Another Agent, not the one she’d punched in the throat, got his arms around her and dragged her away from Bucky’s prone form.  

“No!  Bucky!””

Another pair of Agents knelt beside Bucky.  They zip tied his hands and feet and stuck something on his metal arm.  Darcy did her best, but the Agent had a good grip on her and she couldn’t get out of his grasp.  Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Steve was holding his own against a crowd of men trying to subdue him, but he couldn’t get to Bucky either.

“Ms. Lewis calm down!” the Agent insisted.  

“Get your fucking hands off me,” she shouted.  “Bucky!”

When the crowd of Agents fighting Steve began to thin, the Agent holding Darcy dropped her.  He zip tied her hands behind her back and her feet together before leaving her.  Darcy inched herself closer to Bucky and managed to get up on her knees to look down at him.

“Bucky!  Wake up!”

Her gaze landed on a small dart sticking out of his neck.  It wasn’t easy, but she managed to tug it out with her teeth.  She spit it out and spit again onto the ground beside his head.  Bucky groaned and blinked a couple of times before opening his eyes.

“What?”

“You have to help Steve!”

Bucky turned his head to the side, his confusion turning to sharp rage.  He snapped the tie around his ankles easily, but struggled with the one around his wrists.  His gaze landed on the small device on his metal arm and he realized why it was inert.

“I’m gonna have to break my wrist to get my hands free.  Don’t look.”

“No,” Darcy said.  “Fuck.  Wait a second.”  She dropped down to sit on the ground and put her back to Bucky.  “Let me try.”

Bucky rolled, pressing the device against her fingers.  It took her a moment, but she managed to peel it off.  Bucky broke his restraints.  He freed Darcy as well and handed her one of his guns before throwing himself into the fight to help Steve.  It was only a matter of minutes before every Agent was on the ground, most of them unconscious and a couple moaning in pain.

Steve cupped Bucky’s face and spoke to him quietly.  He received a nod in reply to whatever he’d said.  They joined Darcy and Steve looked over her quickly.

“You hurt?”

She shook her head.  Steve looked down at the ground, his gaze pinned to the dart.  He lifted it gingerly and studied it for a long moment.

“Okay,” he said tightly.  “We’re going.  Darcy, stay between Bucky and I.  If they make another attempt to grab Bucky, you two are going to leave me behind to handle it.  Got it?”

Darcy nodded.

“Bucky?”

Bucky’s jaw was tight with displeasure.

Steve took hold of his shoulders; “Your job is to get yourself and Darcy to safety.  She’s your priority.  Do you understand me?”

Bucky nodded.  He took Darcy’s hand when they began to move, his metal hand twisted into a fist at his side.  The longer they walked unimpeded, the tenser Steve got.  Darcy was between them, doing her best to hide that she was shaking.  Bucky was tense, eyes scanning the path before them.  And Steve was furious.  He was so angry that it was actually pounding in his ears.  

“They’re gonna make another play.”

“I know,” Steve agreed.  “I think they’re going to try to grab you at the entrance to the Tower.

“What are we going to do?”

“The two of you are going to get inside the Tower.  Go to my suite and instruct Jarvis to lock it down until I give you the all clear,” Steve said.  “We’re going to turn the corner in thirty seconds.  If anyone moves towards us, you’re both going to run for the entrance.  Got it?”

“Got it,” Darcy agreed.

“Bucky?”

“My job is to get Darcy and myself to safety,” he said testily.   “I got it.”

They rounded and when no one jumped out to attack them, Darcy began to think that they’d make it. When they were within a few feet of the Tower, a suited man appeared in front of them.  There were several other Agents behind him, as well as a large showing of NYPD.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Captain,” the man cautioned, when Steve raised his shield.

Steve ignored him, moving to stand in front of Bucky and Darcy.  They weren’t close enough to the entrance to get inside without being stopped by one of the Agents.

“Who are you?”

“My name isn’t important.  We’re here to bring the Winter Solider in for questioning.”

“No,” Steve said simply.

“I’m afraid this isn’t a request,” he said.  

“You’re not SHIELD.  Who are you?” Steve demanded.  “And why do you have the NYPD as backup?”

“They’re here to arrest Ms. Lewis in the event that you don’t see reason.”

Steve inhaled slowly, “What’s the charge?”

“Assault of a federal Agent.”

“That is-”

Darcy put her hand on Steve’s arm, “It doesn’t matter.  He can’t arrest me.”

“I assure you that I can,” he countered.

“I assure you, you can’t,” she replied sharply.  “I have diplomatic immunity.  You can’t arrest me.  You can’t even question me without permission from the All Father himself.  Word to the wise, you’re not going to get it.”

“That’s for the politicians to sort out,” he said dismissively.  “We’re happy for you to sit in a holding cell for however long it takes.  Or we could be reasonable about this.” He sent a pointed look to Steve.

Darcy glared at him, “There is nothing to sort out.  If you arrest me, detain me or take me in for questioning, you’ll be in breach of the Earth-Asgard Treaty.  And before you leave that for the politicians to sort out, you might want to appraise yourself of the consequences of such a breach.”

He hesitated.

“And if you think you can somehow use me as leverage against James Barnes, you’re mistaken,” she said.  “Hey,” her voice sharpened.  “Stop looking at Steve.  I’m talking to you.”  She let go of Bucky’s hand and moved to step in front of Steve.  “I’m the Asgardian Consul to the City of New York and I’m not your fucking bargaining chip.  Am I making myself clear?”

“Crystal clear, Ms. Lewis.”

“It’s Consul Lewis,” she spat. “Do you have a warrant for him?”

“No,” he said tightly.

“Then get the fuck out of my face,” she retorted.

“Consul Lewis-”

“One more fucking word,” she cautioned him, “And I’m going to start screaming.  And when I do that, an angry Asgardian in a red cape wielding a hammer is going to come down here and probably hit you in the face with said hammer for harassing a sworn representative of his father’s government.”

He took a very large step backwards.

“Yeah, keep going,” she said angrily.  She grabbed Steve’s arm with one hand and held out her hand to Bucky.  “Let’s go home.”

Bucky’s fingers interlocked with hers.  She walked into the Tower, got into the elevator and pushed the button for Steve’s floor.  She took a deep breath once the elevator door closed.

“Holy shit.”

“Holy shit indeed,” Steve said, but he was smiling a little as he looked at her.

“Oh god,” her face went white.  “He said they wanted the Winter Solider and I said your name.”  She exhaled sharply, “I said your name.  I told them your name.”

“Hey,” Bucky said gently.  “It’s okay.  Calm down.”

“I’m so sorry!”

“There was no way that was going to stay a secret for long,” Bucky said.  He cupped her face, “It’s fine.  I promise.”

“I shouldn’t have said that.  I messed up.”

Bucky sent a pointed look in Steve’s direction.

“Darcy,” he said.  “It’s okay.”

“You kept it a secret this whole time and I just blurted it out.”

“Bucky’s right.  There’s no way it was going to stay a secret for long.  And I wouldn’t want it to.”

She worried her lip, gaze darting between them.

“Really?”

“It’s not a problem,” Steve said.

“Really,” Bucky agreed.  

“Okay.  So who the fuck were those guys?” she wondered.

“We’ll find out,” Steve promised.  He cast a worried glance at Bucky, nudging him gently.  “You good?”

He nodded, “Yeah.  I’m fine.”  He looked at Darcy, “That was amazing.  You just… you told them all to fuck off and they fucked off.”

“It was nothing,” she said.  

“It was amazing and I want to kiss you all over your entire body,” he said in a slightly dazed voice, his attention pinned to Darcy.

Darcy stared at him, but Steve just laughed.  He pressed another elevator button and stepped out when the door opened.  “I’m gonna drop the dart off in the lab.  Get started on the thing,” he smirked at Bucky.  “I’ll be up in a few.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Eight**

He started with her mouth.

Bucky brushed his thumb across her bottom lip, watching her as she watched him.  Her eyes wide, but reflecting anticipation rather than worry.  He leaned over her as she lay on her back in the bed, brushing his nose against hers before kissing her.  He started out slow, hands moving into her hair, and kissed her until she was out of breath.  He turned to her jawline next, moving down her throat and adding a scrape of teeth when he reached the spot between her throat and shoulder.  Her breath caught at that and so he did it again, a little harder.  She made another sound of pleasure and her hands went to his upper arms.

Bucky pushed Darcy’s shirt to the side, exposing her shoulder, and brushed his fingers over her bra strap.  She shifted upright briefly and tried to tug her shirt off in one movement.  Bucky put a hand in the center of her back to steady her and tossed her shirt off to the side once she had it over her head.  He traced a path with his fingertips down along her bra strap, brushing along the lacy edges of the cup.  A moment later, he followed the same path with his mouth.  

“You too.”

“Hmm?” he rested against her, but looked up to meet her gaze.

Darcy tugged on Bucky’s t-shirt and frowned a little when he tensed.  “Not if you don’t want to,” she murmured.

Her hands went to his face, brushing over his cheeks and winding around the strands of hair at the back of his neck.  He averted his eyes for a moment before removing his shirt.  His eyes flew back to her face, skittish like, but he looked away again just as quickly.  Darcy moved her hands back to his cheeks.

“What?” she asked.  “What is it?”

He nodded his head towards his left shoulder, but his gaze didn’t follow the movement.  He kept it on her.

“Should I keep my hands away from it?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.  “You can…  you can touch my arm,” he lifted his metal arm briefly, “But maybe not my shoulder.  Not where it intersects.  Please.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

“Thank you.”  He took her mouth again, kissing her until she was pliant beneath him, relaxed and wanting.  Her dark hair was spread out around her.  Her eyes were bright and pinned to his face.  She shifted a little, her legs opening, and he settled in the space between them.  He pushed himself back to his knees, hands running over her stomach, her hips and resting on the button on her pants.  He dipped his fingers just under the fabric, eyes still pinned to her face.

“Can I?”

Darcy nodded and Bucky shifted downwards to undo the button with his teeth.

“Ohmygod,” she gasped.

He pressed kisses against her stomach as his fingers went to the zipper.

“What a picture you two make.”

They both turned their heads to see Steve leaning against the doorway.  He was smiling and his gaze was hot and interested.  He lay down on his side beside Darcy and pressed biting kisses against her throat as Bucky continued to press light kisses over her stomach and hips as he slipped her pants off.

She was briefly uncomfortable wearing only her panties and bra with Bucky mostly dressed and Steve still fully dressed.  Goosebumps broke out across her exposed skin and she shivered a little.  Bucky lifted her up briefly, yanking the blanket out from under her and pulling it up and over his shoulders before lowering himself back on top of her.

“Better?” he asked, his lips against her earlobe.

She managed a nod.

He made good on his promise until Darcy thought she would go insane from it, until there was scarcely a place on her body that he hadn’t kissed, until she couldn’t keep herself from whimpering.  He looked up and smiled as she whimpered and she would have been embarrassed, except he looked so wonderfully pleased about it.  

“Like my mouth?”

“Yes.”

“Want me too…” he glanced down between her legs briefly.

“What?” she asked innocently.

He sent her a look.  Her smile widened.

“You know what.”

“Maybe I wanna hear you say it,” she teased.

“Can I use my mouth on you?” he whispered huskily, his face a little red.

“I’d like that,” she replied.  

Bucky took hold of her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the bed.  He knelt on the floor, situated himself between her legs, and started to rub small circles against her with his thumb.  He soon followed with his tongue, gentle and shallow.  Darcy was vaguely aware that Steve was moving, but she didn’t pay full attention until she realized he too was on the ground, fully naked and behind Bucky.

Steve’s hands went to Bucky’s arms and Darcy forced herself to focus briefly, “Don’t touch his left shoulder.  He doesn’t like it.”

Steve hooked his chin over Bucky’s right shoulder and pressed a kiss to his jaw, “Won’t,” he promised simply.  “Can I have you?”

Bucky exhaled sharply, pulling away from Darcy briefly to meet his gaze, “Yeah.  Yes,” he said.  “You can.”

His hands went to Bucky’s hips, undoing his pants and pushing one hand into his boxers.  Bucky jolted, his hands going to Darcy’s thighs.

“Gentle,” Steve cautioned quietly.  “You gotta be real gentle with her.  You can’t forget it.”

“I won’t,” Bucky promised, his hands resting on her thighs instead of griping them.

“I’m not fragile,” Darcy promised.

“He’s as strong as me,” Steve explained, his attention going to Darcy’s face.  “It can be easy to forget when you’re distracted.  It doesn’t matter with me, but he has to pay attention with you.”

“I’m gonna be careful,” Bucky promised, his gaze pinned to Darcy.  He waited until she was looking at him, “And I’m gonna make you feel so good.”

Her breath caught and he leaned forward, pressing his tongue into her and his fingertips brushed over the inside of her thighs.  Steve pulled him away briefly, offering Darcy an apologetic look as he kept Bucky away from her just long enough to strip him.  Bucky went back to Darcy and Steve leaned up against his back and pressed a slicked finger into him.  Bucky moaned against Darcy and she fell back, leaning on her elbows.

Bucky’s tongue inside of her was amazing and distracting, but she tried to focus enough to watch Steve as he added a second and a third finger into Bucky.  She’d drifted away a bit, but her focus went back to Steve when she heard the sound of him opening a condom.

Bucky shifted and pressed his face against her thigh, moaning lowly as Steve entered him slowly.  Darcy sat up, her hands tangling in his hair.  She tugged gently and he tilted his head back enough that she could watch his face as Steve pressed into him.

Steve stayed still for a few moments, one of his hands traveling over the nape of Bucky’s neck and up into his hair to tangle with Darcy’s fingers.

“I like the long hair,” he whispered roughly, thrusting shallowly.

“Steve,” Bucky moaned.

Darcy stared, completely entranced, and startled in surprise when Bucky tugged at her legs.  He moved abruptly, pressing up and heaving her legs over his shoulders and pressed his tongue back into her.  He flicked it and she lost the ability to hold herself up, dropping back to lie on her back as he pushed his tongue in deeper and deeper.  She lifted her head up to see that Steve still had a hand tangled in his hair, but his eyes were closed as he moved.

Steve moved his free hand across Bucky’s belly, scratching lightly.  He kept his thrusts slow, but pushed a little deeper every time.  He ignored his cock completely, stroking his hand over Bucky’s belly.  His fingers dipped lower and lower every time, but never went there.

Bucky backed off Darcy briefly, “Steve, please.  Please.  I can’t- Please.”

“Not yet,” Steve breathed against his neck.

He gasped for breath, his eyes wide and watery.  He tried to move one his hands to take hold of himself, but Steve caught his wrist.

“You let me take care of you.  And you take care of her,” Steve murmured.  “I’ve got you, I promise.”

Darcy pressed herself up onto her elbows, “Do you want to stop?”

He shook his head, panting.  She sat up fully and brushed his hair out of his face, “Steve teasing you?”

He nodded sharply.

“Making you crazy?”

Bucky whimpered as Steve thrust up into him, but still managed a nod in reply.

“How about I just-” she began to offer

“No,” he shook his head, “Don’t want to stop unless you want to stop,” he gasped for breath and pushed at her hip, “Lean back.”

Darcy shifted back to lie on her back and she moaned when Bucky pressed both his tongue and fingers into her.  It didn’t take long after that for her to completely fall apart, her orgasm sharp and fluttering and so damned good that she could barely move.  Bucky’s arms went around her waist and he pressed up to rest his face on her lower stomach.  Steve curled over him from behind and continued to fuck him harder and faster until Bucky was an incoherent mess.  Bucky came just moments before Steve, lasting for barely a minute after Steve finally wrapped his hand around his cock and began to stroke.

Steve withdrew slowly, pressing messy kisses to the side of his neck.  He stepped away briefly to dispose of the condom.  He knelt by Bucky briefly before lifting him up and settling him on the bed beside Darcy.  He joined them, on Bucky’s other side, and curled up against his back.

Darcy broke the silence first, with a slightly awed, “Holy shit.”

Bucky laughed and turned his face towards hers, “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Steve echoed in agreement.

“Cold,” Darcy grumbled.

Steve hooked his foot under the blanket, dragged it up enough to grab with his hand and pull it up to cover the three of them.  Darcy made an appreciative sound and curled up against Bucky, resting her head on his chest.  Steve watched as Bucky’s expression turned tender as he brushed her hair out of her face and cupped her cheek.

“I can’t even tell you how lovely I find you,” he whispered.

Darcy let out a little moue of surprise, but smiled at him.

“Did you like it?” he asked, his voice still at a whisper.

“Yeah,” she said.  “I definitely did.  Did you?”

“Mhm,” he agreed.

“Steve?” she asked.

Steve stretched, “So good.  It was so good.”

“Why are we talking?”  Bucky mumbled.  He shifted, curling around his pillow.  “I’m still trying to recover.”  Bucky managed just before drifting off into a nap and Darcy shifted to look at Steve over him.  She reached her hand out and Steve took it, tangling their fingers together.

“Not sleepy?” he asked.

Darcy shook her head.  Her attention went to Bucky briefly.

“People wanna take him away and hurt him and I hate that,” she whispered fiercely.  “I hate it so fucking much.”

Steve shifted away from Bucky and jerked his heads towards the door.  He grabbed his clothes on the way, but all Darcy could find was Bucky’s discarded t-shirt and her panties.  She donned them with a careless shrug and moved to join Steve on the couch as he dressed.

“What are we going to do?” Darcy wondered.

“I don’t know.”

“We can’t just keep him inside the Tower forever.”

“Tempting, but no,” Steve agreed.  “I don’t want this place to be just another prison for him.  But we need a way to make everyone back off.”

Darcy ran her hands over her face, “I have an idea.  But it’s not a good one.”

“Oh?”

“It involves SHIELD.”

Steve frowned a little, but nodded, “Go on.”

“We can’t protect him from everyone,” she said, “But if we can get SHIELD on our side, then his list of enemies just got a whole lot smaller.  None of the other legitimate agencies are going to make a grab for him if they think he has SHIELD’s support.”

“Huh,” Steve said thoughtfully.  “Considering that SHIELD tried to arrest him twice, I’m not sure they’re on his side.”

“Part of that can maybe be chalked up to their assumption that he’d kidnapped me,” she said.  “Have you spoken to Agent Coulson?”

Steve worried his lower lip, “Not exactly spoken to…”

“What does that mean?”

“We had a debrief after the incident with him and Clint in the hotel.  His team and the Avengers all met at SHIELD.”

“How did that go?”

Steve sighed, “It wasn’t easy for anyone.  Eventually I called the meeting to an end because Clint looked like he was going to fall over.  The whole thing was just a giant fight about what Bucky wanted you for and how we should respond.”

“And after that?”

He shrugged.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that when I got to the cafe and found out that his team had moved in without us… it’s possible I lost my temper.  We’d made it clear that they weren’t to engage the Winter Soldier without the Avengers and they did it anyway.”  He was quiet briefly.  “When I saw the footage of you getting hit in the stomach-”

“It wasn’t a real bullet!”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.  “But it’s possible I lost my temper.”

“And?”

“I may have shouted at Coulson and his team.  A lot.  Except for Trip,” he said after a moment.  “I like him.  He came up to me and told me he’d suspected that the Winter Solider was Bucky Barnes and he wanted to know what was going on and I told him.  He put me on to Ward.”

“What happened with Ward?”

Steve shrugged, “SHIELD took him into custody.  I don’t know the details.”

“And Sitwell?”

“Sitwell too,” Steve confirmed.

“Hmm.  Well, there’s that at least,” she said.  “Is Coulson the one we want to deal with on this?”

“I’m not sure,” he said.  “I haven’t maintained tight ties with SHIELD since DC.  I’d say we should ask Clint and Natasha… but,” he sighed.  “I’m not sure what Natasha’s stance is on Bucky and I’m not sure Clint is up for it, to be honest.”

Darcy drummed her fingers against her thighs, “Let’s start with Agent Triplett then.”

Agent Triplett responded quickly, and a little eagerly, to their invitation and showed up that night for dinner in Steve’s apartment.  Steve cooked, which was always something of a treat, while Darcy claimed responsibility for dessert and wine.  Bucky made no protests, but seemed deeply uncomfortable with the prospect of a house guest and said little to either of them.  He shook Trip’s hand when the other man showed up, but otherwise was completely silent during dinner.  Steve, too, was a little off; and Darcy ended up carrying the majority of the conversation with Trip throughout dinner.

“That was amazing,” Trip said, as they finished dinner.  “But somehow I doubt you invited me here to just socialize.  You don’t have to beat around the bush.  I want to help.  What’s up?”

“We could have,” Steve objected, a hint of embarrassment in his tone.

“Yeah,” Trip agreed, “But you didn’t.   Don’t worry about it.  I want to help in anyway I can.  What do you need?”

“Nothing,” Bucky grumbled.  

“Buck,” Steve sighed.

“Look,” he said after a moment, frustration overtaken by tiredness and the sentence trailed off.

“It’s been a long time since it was safe to rely on someone else,” Trip said.

Bucky looked at him in surprise, but nodded in agreement.

“I spent my childhood hearing stories about you and Cap  from my grandfather.  I knew all the other Howlies as I grew up.  Hearing all those stories and about the bond the Commandos shared...It played a huge role in the type of man I became and why I joined SHIELD.  None of them are left now,” he said softly, “But that doesn’t mean you’re alone- not while there are still some of us left to honor their legacy.”

Bucky was quiet for a long moment before saying somewhat stiffly, “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

Trip smiled a little, “You didn’t offend me.”

“Your grandfather was a good man and a good friend and it was an honor to serve with him.”

“He said the same thing about you on more than one occasion,” Trip commented.  

Bucky shoulders dropped a little, the wary and defensive expression he’d worn ebbing.  “I appreciate your offer.”

Trip nodded, “So, what can I do?”

“We want advice about the best way to get SHIELD on our side about Bucky.  There’s too much interest in him,” Darcy explained.  “And I don’t know how long we can protect him from that.”

Trip nodded, “And you think if SHIELD clears him then you won’t have to worry about anyone else but the usual baddies.  It’s a pretty good idea,” he agreed.  “But I’m not the person to help you.  I don’t have that kind of clout.”

“Barton or Romanov?” Steve asked curiously.

“Maybe,” he hedged.  “They have a history with SHIELD.  They’re both respected Agents.”

“But?” Bucky asked tightly.

“Honestly, the one who needs to be persuaded is Fury.  And the two people he really listens to are Maria Hill and Phil Coulson.”

“You think we should try Coulson.”

Trip hesitated, “I understand there’s a lot of tension between Coulson and the Avengers right now.  But if you can get him on your side…. Plus the man is a giant fan.  I mean giant.  If I was in your shoes,” he said quietly.  “I’d try to see if I could get somewhere with Coulson.”

“You think he’d listen?” Steve asked.

“I think that if Darcy asks to talk to him, he’ll agree to a meeting.”

Darcy tilted her head, “What makes you think that?”

“Because he’s been trying to get a meeting with you for the past two days, but he can’t get past Tony Stark.”

“I didn’t know that.  What if I came to the Bus and talked to him?” Darcy suggested.

“Not alone,” Bucky objected.

“Yeah,” Darcy said.  “Alone.”

“Nope.”

Steve too seemed a little unsure, “Maybe I should go with you?”

“I can do this,” she said, meeting his gaze.

“It isn’t you I doubt.”

“And if I guaranteed to escort her to and from the Bus personally?” Trip offered.

Steve hesitated, “You really think this is the best way?”

He nodded, “I do.”

“Okay,” Steve began.

“Hey,” Bucky interrupted sharply.  “I still think this is a terrible idea.”

“You have no reason to trust SHIELD,” Trip said, “Every time we think we’ve rooted out all of the Hydra Agents…” he shook his head unhappily, “I’m honestly amazed that SHIELD survived given the level of infiltration.  And I get it if you’re unhappy with Coulson.  We were in the wrong on the Op in the coffee shop.  We came at you when one of our own was a Hydra Agent.  He tried to hurt you.  He did hurt Darcy,” he said.  “Maybe you think that we’re the enemy.  But if you can reach an understanding with SHIELD, it will prevent anyone else from going after you.”

“Please let me try,” Darcy said gently, one of her hands moving to cover Bucky’s.

He exhaled slowly, “If anything happens to you…”

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” she said.

“Okay,” Trip said, “So, when do you wanna do this?”

“Right now.”

He blinked in surprise, “Now?”

“Right now,” Darcy repeated as she stood.  “We can take dessert to go.”

Trip stared at in surprise, before nodding, “Alright then.  Let’s go.”

Trip drove himself and Darcy to the airfield where the Bus was parked.  The entire team gathered as he entered with Darcy, all of them staring.  Skye in particular looked like she wanted to say something.  Coulson moved through the group quickly.

“Darcy.”

“Agent Coulson.”

He winced a little, but made no objection, “We weren’t aware you planned to visit.”

“It was a last minute thing.  I heard you wanted to talk to me?”

“Debrief,” he said.  “Is that why you’re here?”

“No,” she admitted.  “Can we speak privately?”

He hesitated.

“I brought brownies,” she lifted a Tupperware container.

He nodded, “Yeah.  We can talk in my office.”

They got themselves situated at a table in his office, Tupperware open between them.  Darcy dug into a brownie immediately, and after a moment Phil did the same.

“As good as ever,” he said quietly.

“It’s the perfect brownie recipe,” she agreed.

He cleared his throat, “How’s Clint?”

“Bit of a mess.  How are you, besides being alive and all?”

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, “I’ve been better.  I owe you an apology.”

“More than one, I think.”

“I’m sorry about what happened in the coffee shop.  We were being fed bad intel.”

“Oh?”

“Ward had a source that said the Winter Soldier was going to hand you over to Hydra,” he said tiredly.  He looked worn out and in that moment, Darcy felt most of her anger fade away.

“You don’t owe me an apology for Grant Ward’s decisions or his lies,” she said.  “Has he said anything?”

Coulson nodded, “Yeah.  I’ve actually already forwarded a preliminary report to Ambassador Baldurson.  Hydra was targeting you for assassination because they thought if you were out of the way that Ward would be accepted for the exchange.”

“Why were they so determined for him to go?” Darcy wondered.

“That we don’t know yet,” Coulson admitted regretfully.  “But as soon as I know, you’ll know,” he promised.  

She nodded.

“I understand that a play was made for Sergeant Barnes earlier today,” he said carefully.  “None of you were hurt?”

“We’re all fine,” she said.  “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” he asked quietly.  “You want me to look into it?”

She shook her head, “No.  I wanted to talk to you about Bucky.”

“What about him?” he asked, both wary and curious.  

“I’m here on behalf of the three of us,” she began.

“The three of you?  As in…?”

Darcy nodded.

“Ah.  Well then.  Okay.”

“We want you to advocate on Bucky’s behalf to Director Fury.”

He leaned back in his chair and seemed to think over her words instead of giving the immediate refusal Darcy had originally feared.  

“I want to help you,” he said quietly.  “But I can’t, in good conscience, advocate on his behalf without being sure that Hydra can’t regain control of him.”

“But his programming is broken,” she objected.

“His programming appears to be broken,” Phil corrected.

“But he-”

“Darcy, you don’t have to persuade me.  But I need proof,” he said gently.  “I want to help, but there can’t be any question about his losing control of himself.”

“How can I prove that?”

He sighed a little, “I don’t know.”

She closed her eyes for a minute, “But if I find proof and bring it to you?”

He nodded, “Then I’ll be behind you guys one hundred percent.”  

“Okay,” she ran her hands over her face tiredly, “Okay.  That’s fair.  I’m gonna have to talk to Steve and Bucky about this, but I’ll keep you updated.”

“Good.”  He hesitated, “Darcy,” his voice caught briefly, “About Clint…”

“What about him?”

Phil blinked slowly, “Nothing.  I shouldn’t have brought it up.  Never mind.”

Darcy huffed impatiently as she stood, “Look.  I can’t even begin to fathom why you did what you did.”

“It isn’t what it looks like,” he said defensively, “I didn’t know,” he shook his head, “I had to protect him until I knew for sure.”

“Until you knew what for sure?”

He shook his head again, “I know that I probably don’t deserve a second chance with him.  But I want it anyway.”

“I know that you loved him,” she said.  “But that doesn’t mean that Clint owes you anything,” she lowered her voice.  

“I know that.  You think I should leave him alone?” he asked at a whisper.

“I don’t know what you should do,” she admitted.  “But loving someone and deserving someone aren’t the same thing.  You may still love him, but you may not deserve him anymore.  But that isn’t something that either of us decide.  Only Clint can decide that.  You need to talk to him.”

“He won’t speak to me,” Phil admitted.

“I don’t approve of what you did, but that doesn’t mean that I want to see either of hurting like this.  I’m sorry for both of you,” she said sincerely.  “Truly.”

He nodded and neither of them had anything else to say.

Darcy left the Bus and returned to the Tower unhappy, but not as unhappy as she could have been.  Tripp stayed with her long enough to see her into the Tower before he left.  Darcy gave him the rest of the Tupperware of brownies and promised to invite him again soon.

Steve and Bucky were waiting for her when she got back to their apartment.  Bucky met her as she was coming in the door; tense until he’d managed to look over her.

“I’m fine,” she promised.  He nodded once and moved to step away, but went still when she caught his wrist.  “That’s not much of a welcome home.”

He seemed to smile a little, before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead.

“Better?”

“Better,” she agreed.  She stepped further into the apartment and greeted an amused looking Steve with a quick kiss to the mouth.

“So?” he asked.

She shrugged, “He’ll help, but first we have to prove that the Hydra conditioning is completely gone.”

“What kind of proof did he ask for?” Steve wondered.

“He didn’t exactly specify.  We’re going to need to think on it.”

Steve nodded in agreement.  Bucky glared from his position slouched against the wall.  Steve sent him an expectant look, but Bucky just looked back mutinously.

“Buck.”

Bucky scowled at him.  Darcy glanced between the two of them.

“I know you aren’t a huge fan of Agent Coulson,” Darcy began.

Bucky snorted, “Let’s get one thing clear, okay?” he said.  “I trust you.  I trust that punk,” he jutted his chin in Steve’s directly.  “I probably trust Sam Wilson.  The Barton brothers, Agent Triplett and Jane Foster are under consideration.  That’s it.”

“You trust me?”

Bucky’s annoyance turned to surprise, “Course I trust you.  Did you think I didn’t?”

“No,” she said, smiling at him.  “I guess I just liked hearing you say it.”

He returned her smile, “I think you like it when I talk.”

She pressed her lips tightly together as her face reddened, but it did little to hide her widening smile, “Maybe I do.”

Steve plopped down on the couch, leaning back in the corner and watching them.  Bucky turned his attention to Steve at the movement and his eyes narrowed in faint suspicion.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he replied easily, “Just like watching you two flirt at each other.”  His words were a little teasing, but there was relaxation and contentment in his smile.  “It’s real sweet.”

Darcy dropped down on the couch as well and gestured at Bucky, “Come sit with us.”

Bucky moved to sit on her other side, but she nudged him to be between herself and Steve.  He shoved his feet in Steve’s lap haphazardly, but hesitated briefly before resting his head on Darcy’s thigh.

“That okay?”

“Yep.  Can I play with your hair?”

“Go for it.”

Darcy ran her finger through his hair and it was so soothing.  Steve’s finger rubbed in gentle circles around his ankle and Bucky felt himself sink down into the couch.  He exhaled slowly,  [ “Got a song for me tonight, Darcy?” ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM)

“Always.”

Bucky shifted his head to allow her to press the buds into his ears.  She got the song started and dropped the iPod on his chest.  He closed his eyes, but smiled as he tapped one of his feet along with the beat.

“A song for him?”

Darcy looked away from Bucky’s face when Steve spoke, “I’ve been introducing him to modern music,” she said at Steve’s questioning expression.

“What’s he listening to now?”

“I picked something fairly upbeat for him.  It’s called Don’t Stop Me Now.  By Queen.  It kinda makes me think of him actually.  Or maybe the three of us.  But there is this line in the song…”

“Hm?”

“I guess it's a stanza.  It goes; I’m a shooting star leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity,” she recited.  “I think you’re the first part and Bucky is the second part.”

“And you?”

“I’m a racing car passing by, like Lady Godiva,” Bucky recited, tugging the headphones out of his ears.  “It’s the next line in the song.  That’s her.”

“Really?  I’m like Lady Godiva?  Or a racecar?” she asked,  hint of a smirk appearing on her face.

Bucky smirked back at her, “Care to take a guess, doll?”

“Wanna give me a hint?”

Steve watched them, as they continued to smirk at each other, and it was a sight he very much enjoyed.

“Well.  One of them is surely more aesthetically pleasing to look at than the other,” Bucky commented with a intentional idleness.

“So you like to look at me, huh?” she asked.

“Oh, I could look at you all damn day,” he replied.

“Weirdos,” Steve mumbled to himself.  But they were too caught up in each other and it was too entertaining to interject.

“Really?” she challenged.  “Even if I was naked?  You’d just look at me?”

“Really,” he confirmed.  “I’m a sniper, you know.  We can be very,  _ very _ patient.  We’re used to staying still, being silent and just watching.”

“You sound like peeping Tom,” Steve laughed.

“Did you know that the phrase peeping Tom originates with the story of Lady Godiva?” Darcy asked, delighted with the comment.  

“I didn’t,” Bucky admitted.

Steve grinned, “He was allegedly struck dead for staring at her.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”  Bucky grinned back, “You two are a little nerdy, you know.”

Steve chuckled, “Don’t let him fool you, Darcy.  Bucky is probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.  And that hasn’t changed since I woke up.”  He poked the bottom of Bucky’s foot repeatedly, “do the thing.”

“What thing?” Darcy asked.

“Which thing, you weirdo?” Bucky demanded.

“You know which thing,” he replied.  “I’ll go first.  What’s the 20 th number in the Fibonacci Sequence?”

Bucky huffed and rolled his eyes, “317,811.”

“Wow,” Darcy said.  “How did you know that?”

“He has a stupidly big brain,” Steve replied.  “Go on.  Ask him anything.  Number stuff.”

“Well.  What’s the prime factorization for that number?” Darcy asked after a moment.

“Well 317,811 is not prime,” Bucky said, “It’s composite.  But it’s composed of four primes, so 3 x 13 x 29 x 281 is the answer you're looking for.”

“Damn,” Darcy replied lowly.  

Bucky huffed a laugh, “I used to put Steve to sleep reciting prime numbers.  Always seemed to help when he was feeling the insomnia.  Numbers just always made sense to me.  It’s why I got tagged a sniper,” he said, tapping his forehead.  “Gotta do a ton of calculating for that shit.”

“And you used to sing Steve to sleep by reciting prime numbers?” Darcy asked.

“Well I didn’t sing them,” Bucky was a little sheepish, “But yeah.”

“What’s the highest you ever got it?”

“He was usually out before I got to the early thousands.  I think that 1,741 was the highest I ever got to.  He was so bored he passed out to escape it,” Bucky said with a smile.

Steve laughed, “Yeah, you always thought that.”

“Huh?” Bucky asked.

“Just liked listening to your voice,” Steve admitted.  “It helped relax me.  You could have recited anything and I would I have like it.”

Bucky stared at Steve in surprise.

“That is so sweet,” Darcy said.  “Seriously, I’m gonna get cavities.”  She leaned down and kissed Bucky quickly, amused by his look of surprise.  He leaned up and chased her mouth, kissing her again and reaching one hand up to tangle his fingers in her hair.

“You’re the sweet one,” he objected.  He wiggled back into a comfortable position.  “It’s almost like a fairy tale.”

Darcy was quiet for a moment, “It’s almost like a fairy tale.”  She repeated it to herself before turning to meet Steve’s gaze, “I know what to do.”

“About what?”

“I know how we can prove our case to Agent Coulson!”

Bucky straightened, sitting up right between them two of them, “What’s your idea?”

She hesitated briefly, “Well it’s, uh, a little unorthodox.”

“Is it brash?  Foolhardy?  Reckless?”

Darcy grinned as Bucky repeated the words she’d used to describe a previous plan, “Yes.  That’s how I know you’re gonna like it.”

He grinned and tilted his head to the side.  Somehow it had already become a thing between the two of them.  Darcy knew what he was going to say even before he spoke.  His eyes were bright with interest as he repeated the same question that he always seemed to ask when she had an idea. 

“Tell me more?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!! Yes there will be more. Eventually.


End file.
